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Hello British friends slash friends who are very familiar with Britain!
I am planning a trip for me and my parents to visit the UK next May. (Basically: I do all the planning/booking/etc. and they take me along. Which is a really good deal for me!) This was the trip that they were going to take to visit me while I was in grad school but then Covid Happened.
I had been inclined to take them to York because I know they'd like that, but with the distance (which is tiny by American standards tbh!), we're kind of thinking of staying within about 2 hours of London at any given time instead. We will not have a car, so we'll be doing everything by train and bus.
I am prioritizing the kinds of things they like to do. I am thinking of doing a loop: After three days in London, we would go and spend a few in Bath. Then we would move to Oxford, from which we could see the town itself (including, probably, C.S. Lewis's house for my mom), go to Blenheim Palace, and go on a Cotswolds village tour. Then because my mom wants to see Jane Austen's house, we would go spend a night or two in Winchester and see what's around there. And at the end, we'd loop back to London to catch the plane home. It should be 10 days, and the amount of days we would stay in each place are dependent on what we decide to do in each place.
So what I'm asking for is suggestions of things we could do in these areas that we can reach by bus or train (or a walk of a mile or two) that maybe aren't high on the tourist list but are really nice to do.
Things they like:
+ GARDENS. They looooove gardens. The more, the better.
+ Cute little towns with scenic streets, cute shops and bookstores
+ Beautiful outdoor areas with very gentle hiking/walks
+ National Trust type homes that are less gorgeous palaces (the visit to Blenheim is quite enough for that) and more homier type things (for instance, my mom and I are depressed that we can't see Beatrix Potter's house, but there's no way we're going all the way up to the Lake District). I know there are a zillion National Trust properties, but I don't know which are the best to do! It's so hard to narrow down!
+ Historical sites, maybe, depending on what they are
Unfortunately they are not museum freaks like me, so unless it's a really amazing museum, they probably won't care. They also do not care about Stonehenge.
Some things I'm toying with but don't know whether they'd be worth it:
+ The Courts Gardens
+ William Morris's Kelmscott Manor
+ Gilbert White's House and Gardens
+ Bletchley Park
+ The Watercress Line
+ Yoesden Nature Reserve
I am planning a trip for me and my parents to visit the UK next May. (Basically: I do all the planning/booking/etc. and they take me along. Which is a really good deal for me!) This was the trip that they were going to take to visit me while I was in grad school but then Covid Happened.
I had been inclined to take them to York because I know they'd like that, but with the distance (which is tiny by American standards tbh!), we're kind of thinking of staying within about 2 hours of London at any given time instead. We will not have a car, so we'll be doing everything by train and bus.
I am prioritizing the kinds of things they like to do. I am thinking of doing a loop: After three days in London, we would go and spend a few in Bath. Then we would move to Oxford, from which we could see the town itself (including, probably, C.S. Lewis's house for my mom), go to Blenheim Palace, and go on a Cotswolds village tour. Then because my mom wants to see Jane Austen's house, we would go spend a night or two in Winchester and see what's around there. And at the end, we'd loop back to London to catch the plane home. It should be 10 days, and the amount of days we would stay in each place are dependent on what we decide to do in each place.
So what I'm asking for is suggestions of things we could do in these areas that we can reach by bus or train (or a walk of a mile or two) that maybe aren't high on the tourist list but are really nice to do.
Things they like:
+ GARDENS. They looooove gardens. The more, the better.
+ Cute little towns with scenic streets, cute shops and bookstores
+ Beautiful outdoor areas with very gentle hiking/walks
+ National Trust type homes that are less gorgeous palaces (the visit to Blenheim is quite enough for that) and more homier type things (for instance, my mom and I are depressed that we can't see Beatrix Potter's house, but there's no way we're going all the way up to the Lake District). I know there are a zillion National Trust properties, but I don't know which are the best to do! It's so hard to narrow down!
+ Historical sites, maybe, depending on what they are
Unfortunately they are not museum freaks like me, so unless it's a really amazing museum, they probably won't care. They also do not care about Stonehenge.
Some things I'm toying with but don't know whether they'd be worth it:
+ The Courts Gardens
+ William Morris's Kelmscott Manor
+ Gilbert White's House and Gardens
+ Bletchley Park
+ The Watercress Line
+ Yoesden Nature Reserve