Day trips from London
 

My wife and I are heading to London in a few weeks for 9 days. We would like to strike out from London on some of our days there. Any suggestions for the best day trips? We enjoy photography.Is it difficult (or advisable) to rent a car? Many thanks.

jonericn it depends on where you're going there are lots of places that you could do by train, Oxford, Cambridge, St Albans, Salisbury, Winchester, Brighton etc. But unless you give us some more details you'll just get a lot of generic options. What are you looking for, country houses, pubs, walking, historic cities, castles, history? What would you like to see on your day out? Perhaps you'd consider places in the environs of London, Hampstead or Greenwich?

There are so many choices that more information would help, what do you like to photography, countryside, people, architecture etc? You get the idea!

Check out London Walks, www.walks.com, for out-of-town walks led by experienced and knowledgeable guides. Some of their offerings include Salisbury, Canterbury, Cambridge, Bath, Greenwich, and others. We have taken many walks, both in London and out of London, with them over the past 25 or so years. All the guides are great, but our personal favorite is Richard-with-the-red-hat. The company will have a schedule online at the above www address. Incidentally, they have a huge line-up of in-London walks as well.

If you're interested in visiting the Cotswold, I just had the most wonderful time on the Secret Cottage Tour in Moreton-in-Marsh. I was staying IN M-i-M, but many of the other tourists took the train in/out from London for the day.

The Secret Cottage Tour departs at 10:15 from the Moreton-in-Marsh train stop, and drops you back in time for the return train to London.

Had a wonderful time. Two drivers, two comfortable passenger vans, and we visited many Cotswold villages. A really wonderful day, as the other tourists were so lovely, and the drivers are locals with a broad understanding of the history and current challenges of the Cotswolds.

What is fantastic is that during the tour, you stop three times at The Secret Cottage, a charming thatched-roof cottage, where Becky (the owner) and a caterer serve tea and cakes, and lunch in the middle. You will not need dinner, after.

Everyone was so welcoming and the entire day was just so comfortable. The drivers offer to take pics for you at all the stops--without anyone asking.

Very easy to recommend. The only issue I can foresee is the reliability of the train service from London and back. None of the London-based tourists seemed to have any issue, and liked the train ride into the country. Don't know enough of the reliability of the trains to speak to that.

But, here's the website if you're interested.

http://www.cotswoldtourismtours.co.uk/

<<We enjoy photography>>

And what else? Geez, it's not like you only have two or three possible choices within easy day-trip distance from London.

Don't get a car, the UK has plenty of trains, especially in and around London.

Can you narrow it down for us? For example, what do you like to take photographs OF? :-)

A list of day trips my husband and I have done from London include:
Hampton Court
Salisbury & Stonehenge
York
Bath
Bristol

Plus a huge number of places we have on our potential day trip list.

If you let us know your specific interests it's easier to recommend a destination.

Forgot to add - all of the places we have been and intend to go someday as day trips from London can all be done easily via train and/or bus, so we haven't needed to rent a car yet.

"The only issue I can foresee is the reliability of the train service from London and back."

A non-issue.

Though it's a bit of a Cinderella line, with a poorer on-time record than many, the operators of the Secret Garden tour organise themselves around its arrival. And most delays are the knockon of rush hour problems: theyn affect London-bound trains in the early morning, and Moreton-bound ones in the late afternoon. The 0821 departure from London, round which the Secret Garden operation hangs, is too early to be affected by late-running inbound rush hour trains.

Almost without fail, delayed train in one direction cross almost meticulously punctual trains going the other way.

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