I have done both and enjoyed both very much.
If you haven't been to England then I might pick that one as it gets you to some places that are a bit difficult to access by public transport (middle of Dartmoor National Park for one). They've changed it slightly from when I took it which is good. The overnights in Cornwall are now in Falmouth (where I stayed for 6 nights on a Road Scholar tour) instead of Penzance. Penzance just put you so much further for the long drive back to Bath at the end plus I liked the Falmouth vibe better than Penzance (or at least the Penzance from the neighborhood where the RS hotel was located).
They've also just headed back to Bath on the final day instead of trying to work in a big site. This is excellent as we were traveling on a holiday weekend and the traffic was miserable so we were late getting in to Bath and literally had to throw our stuff in our hotel rooms and head out to our farewell dinner. I suggested this change on my eval and I know from talking to our guide he and the other guides were going to lobby for that change as well.
Not a lot of churches in this one - Canterbury Cathedral but the visit to the stained glass workshop was seriously amazing and a visit to Salisbury Cathedral as well. I can't think of any other big churches....did a couple of small ones on my own in free time but I love churches. Saw a falconer in the Canterbury Cathedral cloister with his Harris Hawk hunting pigeons which was very cool.
IF you do this one, I'd go to Canterbury a day ahead, at least, as there is quite a bit to see that is not on the tour. I'd stay in Bath as many nights as you can manage but I am a lover of Bath and for myself 4-5 nights (3-4 days) is not too long.
I also really enjoyed the Village Italy tour. I agree there was not much in the way of churches....Ravenna, Sienna and Assisi involved cathedrals and churches but I can't think of any others. Well, we did a quick visit in Orvieto just to see a chapel and to look at the gorgeous carving on the façade. I enjoyed the smaller villages and slower pace BUT although I say "slower" we still had plenty of walking every day! I guess it felt slower because there was not the frantic-ness of Rome, lol. I did add in churches because I made this a "relic" tour and tried to see all the relics available after seeing St Anthony's vocal cords, jawbone and another body part in Padua, lol. I'd also done Heart of Italy and had finished the 21 day Best of Europe tour which spends 8 nights in Italy (Venice, Florence, Rome and CT).
For VI I would go in to Padua 2 nights ahead, maybe 3, as there was a lot to see there and I did not get everything done. The tour sees the Scrovegni Chapel but I would make another appointment to visit as you only get about 30 minutes in there at a time and it is so gorgeous. I would not add an extra night in Orta at the end. I did but it was raining buckets and we'd done all we wanted to do by noon on the final day. Could have gone on Milan and had some extra time there.
editing to add: Both Andi and Elaine are quicker off the mark than I am this morning! Either I've had too much coffee or not enough, lol!
