jeffreycwuk

Agree. Parking in Oxford is quite costly. Probably the same in Cambridge. Having a car is useful if you are exploring Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

bilboburgler

Dover is one of the duller towns of the UK
But it has Dover Castle and the odd old military piece of technology dug into the cliff

Oxford and Cambridge require no car and it will be harder with a car as Janisj says. There are very few British towns where a car is an advantage, with the possible exception of Birmingham.

jeffreycwuk

If you are into WW2 history, the tour is delivered by very passionate docent here. https://battleofbritainbunker.co.uk/ (Metropolitan line from Baker Street)

Bletchley Park is about codebreaking and Turing https://bletchleypark.org.uk/ (London Northwestern train from Euston)

Roald Dahl Museum is another great smaller museum in Buckhinghamshire. https://www.roalddahl.com/museum (Chiltern train from Marylebone) You can combine this with trips to Amersham and Chesham. There are some good trekking options in the Chiltern Hills, too. https://www.chilternsaonb.org/

Further afield:

Battle of Hastings Abbey and Battlefield is the spot of a historic battle.
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/...d-battlefield/

They are all doable for a same day return by train.

jeffreycwuk

Maidenhead and Henley are also not far from London.

Short walk themed Wind in the willows
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/mai...e-willows-walk

Henley River and Rowing museum set up a 3D gallery
https://www.rrm.co.uk/visit/gallerie...n-the-willows/

thursdaysd

Bletchley also has a computer museum.

Trophywife007

The town of Dover may be dull but Canterbury is lovely, as I recall. May not be doable in a day trip with Dover, however. We picked up a lovely vintage ash tray there that I use to keep coasters.

Fra_Diavolo

You might consider Winchester. An hour from London, with a great cathedral, water meadows, and old abbey that will serve you bread and ale, and Winchester College an ancient "public" school. More than enough for a very full day.

bilboburgler

Canterbury is a jewel, I like Winchester but I still prefer Salisbury with its watermeadows. Some lovely ideas above and none of them need a car. Many Brits don't even own a car especially around London because the system works so well without one.

If you do go the public transport route download the tfl APP https://tfl.gov.uk/maps_/tfl-go or any of the private London ones (they all work off the same data) and they give you up to the minute transport info which can be useful when things go a bit wrong. Outside of London the choice is even larger https://trustheritagelogistics.co.uk...transport-app/ and of course use GPS with predownloaded maps rather than waste phone money on maps when you walk about.

zebec

Miki, maybe consider a daytrip visit to Rye?
Hope all goes well in March.

I am done. The end.