Day trips from London advice
 

My husband and I (both 60 yr. olds) will be traveling next month to London and Cotswolds for the first time next month for two weeks. We are trying to avoid a racing- around- to- see- everything instinct knowing that no amount of time would enable us to visit all we would like to and do so sanely. We enjoy gardens, literature and are looking forward to seeing the grandeur of ancient castles, cathedrals and historic buildings.We have two days which are completely flexible while we are in London; we will staying very close to Paddington station. We are deciding between a guided day trip from London to Canterbury/Leeds Castle/Dover Cliffs (1 hr.) or taking a train on our own to Hampton Court or Kew Gardens. We have a dawn visit to Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral.scheduled as well as tickets to Buckingham Palace.. We have friends in London who are joining us over the weekend to see the main sites in the city plus we have reservations for the Globe Theater. We are considering booking a walking food tour on a weekday in London having had such a good experience in other big cities. We will spend hours in the British Museum and have our London Pass and Oyster Cards already. We have sketched out our plans for the week we are in Oxford, Cotswolds and Bath.We are still considering hiring a private guide for 2-3 hr. tour of Oxford. Thank you for any advice!

If it were my choice between guided tour to Canterbury, etc. and on your own to Hampton Court, or Kew, I would definitely do Hampton Court on my own. There are gardens and all sorts of wonderful things to see inside the palace. I did that trip in April--easy peezy, take the train to HC which is right over the bridge from the train station.

You can also do Canterbury on your own by train. Explore the city as well as the cathedral.

Lesser known easy train ride is to Rochester. Cathedral and castle right next to each other. dickens museum and interesting city.

Since you like literature, you may want to include seeing the British Library. The Special Documents Room is, well, special; and the tour is interesting, too.

I would NOT do the day trip to Leeds Castle (gardens - nice, castle itself - meh) Canterbury and Dover. It is very long and VERY rushed. You are already going on a long day trip out to Salisbury/Stonehenge.

My first choice would be Hampton Court Palace. Kew is great (easier by tube BTW, not train) . . . but HCP is just '<i>greater</i> :)

Too bad about the London Pass :( It is not generally a good value (at all) but if you really put your minds to it you can make it pay off (You'll have to cram in a LOT of the for-pay sites). <B>Please</B> say you didn't get the Oyster card <u>with</u> the London Pass. That would be a waste of ££

(For future reference/trips -- using paper travelcards and Days Out 2for1 vouchers will save a HUGE amount over the London Pass http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1-london )

Thank you for the advice- I should have gotten into the forum earlier in my planning stage!Never thought about the British Library and will certainly plan on Hampton Court which seems to get many votes. I look forward to looking into going to Rochester too.

It has been a few years since we were there, but check with the tourist place in Oxford. They used to offer a free or very cheap tour that was very good. It was not private, but it was limited to only a few people.

In Bath, there are excellent free walking tours sponsored by the city. Check for times and the meeting place. Bath is beautiful and very historic - glad you are going.