10 hours in Gatwick--where can I go?
 

I'm seriously considering buying tickets to London from the US because I found a really good deal. This is the first step in my strategy to get elsewhere on the continent without paying a small fortune to get there. However, if I do this, the flight we would want doesn't leave until 5:00 p.m., and we get into Gatwick at 7:00 am. I know we could go into London itself, but are there other nice places we could go to just spend the day and get a feel for England (we've never been there). I also don't want to eat up all my airfare savings by trying to amuse myself for one day in the London area, so it would have to be someplace we could get to reasonably inexpensively. And, I am assuming there is a place in Gatwick we could leave our bags. Or, am I wrong? Thanks much.

I'd head to Brighton by train, direct from Gatwick.
See the Brighton Pavillion, a colorful and picturesque old "palace", walk the quaint lanes of antique shops, have good fish and chips, walk on on the old Victorian Pier.

I agree with the Neo-Neopolitan and Brighton is easy to reach by direct rail.

Here is a link regarding baggage storage:

http://www.airwise.com/airports/europe/LGW/

"And, I am assuming there is a place in Gatwick we could leave our bags"

Follow the signs for "left luggage", it costs about 5GBP per bag per day (or part of)

"I also don't want to eat up all my airfare savings by trying to amuse myself for one day in the London area"

It's quite cheap to get to London by Southern Trains & the Tube isn't expensive. Once there you'd be surprised how much of London is FREE including most of the major museums & galleries

Also looking for layover advice. We arrive in London at 10:30am and our flight to Prague doesn't leave until 6:30pm. Take away and hour to pick up our bags and 2hour prior Easyjet check-in, that leaves us with about 5 hours to kill. Should we just chill at the airport or would we have enough time to make a quick trip to Brighton for example. Also, we will be coming back to London for two nights at the end of our trip, so we will save London proper for that time.