Enjoyable small city/town in UK

Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland.

Well preserved (many Georgian buildings) town of Stamford in Lincolnshire http://www.stamford.co.uk/ Richmond in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales. http://www.richmond.org/

Robert, I was also going to suggest Richmond in North Yorkshire. As I recall, there's somewhat of a historic Castle there that can be toured. If you like military history, The Green Howards have an excellent Museum there. It's in an old Church and there are five floors of exhibits. If you want a somewhat smaller town, you could pop down to Catterick Village, and have a pint in The Angel, which is an easy drive from Richmond. For a slightly different experience, you could visit Pickering and travel on the North York Moors Steam Railway. If you stop for an hour or so in Goathland, you can walk up from the station and have a pint in the Goathland Hotel (aka "The Aidensfield Arms" from the "Heartbeat" TV series). The scenery in that area is beautiful and the old stations are like stepping back in time! Of course, having a car would be a definite advantage for visiting the above locations. Happy travels!

If you want a Scottish 'town', I'd suggest Aviemore. Lots to do and see in the area- including several whisky distilleries you can reach by bus or train. There's also the Caringorm Brewery (a microbrewery) that gives tours and samples. Take the funicular up Mt. Caringorm (and back down- or hike down). The Rothmurchie Estate has canoeing, horseback riding, walks, etc. There is a reindeer preserve and the Heather Center. And there is a restored steam train that does roundtrips along the river Spey. The Caringorm Hotel is nice- looks like a miniture castle on the outside and a hunting lodge inside- and a piper plays every night before dinner. The restaurant is awesome!!! Easy to reach by train from Edinburgh- about an hour ride.

Salisbury, Winchester, York Very small- Cotswolds, any of the Thames valley towns

I have a few other Scottish suggestions. Inverness. It's very walkable. A bit bigger, but still very nice. You can do lovely day trips to a variety of places. You can visit Cawdor Castle, Culloden, boat ride to see dolphins on the Moray Firth, Loch Ness, Urqhart Castle, North to Golsplie and Dunrobin Castle, north to Dornoch and world class golfing. And if you like the sounds of these places, but want some place smaller, you might look at Fortrose on the Black Isle or Strathpeffer area west of Dingwall. I would not recommend Dingwall. Pitlochry. This a lovely little town. It has a festival theatre. Nice walking by the river, the Blair Atholl distillery, Blair Castle near by, not far to Queens View and drives to loch Tummel. You can visit Aviemore. In town there's also the Explorer's Garden. There's another distillery that is longer hike to, but Rick Steves recommends it. Dunkeld. This is a smaller yet village. It has the wee cathedral, a great pub called Tayside with traditional music, there are several really good walks, you admire the bridge of the Tay, you can drive to Kerrimuir and see the home of James Barrie, you can drive to Aberfeldy and see the Crannog and walk the Birk's of Aberfeldy trail. You can also go up and check out Pitlochery, Blair Castle etc. In the other direction, you probably can get to Glamis Castle in an easy day trip, but I've not done it. Pam

I have a few other Scottish suggestions. Inverness. It's very walkable. A bit bigger, but still very nice. You can do lovely day trips to a variety of places. You can visit Cawdor Castle, Culloden, boat ride to see dolphins on the Moray Firth, Loch Ness, Urqhart Castle, North to Golsplie and Dunrobin Castle, north to Dornoch and world class golfing. And if you like the sounds of these places, but want some place smaller, you might look at Fortrose on the Black Isle or Strathpeffer area west of Dingwall. I would not recommend Dingwall. Pitlochry. This a lovely little town. It has a festival theatre. Nice walking by the river, the Blair Atholl distillery, Blair Castle near by, not far to Queens View and drives to loch Tummel. You can visit Aviemore. In town there's also the Explorer's Garden. There's another distillery that is longer hike to, but Rick Steves recommends it. Dunkeld. This is a smaller yet village. It has the wee cathedral, a great pub called Tayside with traditional music, there are several really good walks, you admire the bridge of the Tay, you can drive to Kerrimuir and see the home of James Barrie, you can drive to Aberfeldy and see the Crannog and walk the Birk's of Aberfeldy trail. You can also go up and check out Pitlochery, Blair Castle etc. In the other direction, you probably can get to Glamis Castle in an easy day trip, but I've not done it. I've stayed in all these places. Pam

Let me suggest Durham, which is pretty much on your way between York and Edinburgh. One of the greatest cathedrals, interesting old university, nice setting on a sharp river bend, good train and motorway connections. We spent three full days there last year and it may have been the high point of our three-week trip. It's not a small town, but the central part, inside the river bend, feel small and is certainly walkable. A smaller place is Hexham, just NW of Durham, with a fine old church (try to get into the crypt for 7th-century Saxon carvings). There's a bus that runs parallel to Hadrian's wall, with stops at the best places to see it and related ruins like Vindolandia and Housesteads. That could also be a day trip from Durham. Richmond, between York and Durham, is a nice town and gateway to Swaledale, a beautiful Yorkshire valley. The castle is interesting but mostly in ruins. I don't recall a museum other than the little one in the town that we didn't find all that compelling (not being James Herriott people). Edit-- Rereading Ken's post I do recall the regimental museum too, but we didn't visit it. I'd say all three of these qualify as "friendly with some sights too." We met some of the friendliest Brits (of many) on our trip at the Shakespeare pub in Durham.