Interesting Places near London
 

Think my 10 and 14 yr old girls would love seeing some of England outside of London. Any suggestions for a day trip? How far is York? Oxford? THANKS!

York would take the best part of four hours, Oxford perhaps one and a half.

However, I'd advise taking them to Brighton on the South coast, it's more fun, younger, and has the sea, and other attractions which will most probably appeal to them.

Oxford is a fun university town that your daughters will have fun in. How about Bath?

I'd take them to Oxford. It is an hour by train, or an hour and a half by bus. There are a number of Harry Potter film locations there, plus some of the best museums outside London. The colleges are very beautiful and you could all try punting on the Cherwell.

m kingdom apears to have a job vaguely connected with cretivity. MK is especially creative when it comes to any serious information.

The train from London to Oxford takes 55 minutes. To York it's 2 hours. Trains to both cities are reasonably reliable (expect occasionally to arrive 5-10 mins late) and leave London every 30 minutes.

You might also want to consider Cambridge, also about an hour from London by train. This beautiful university town has great history and architecture, fun shopping in the market square, good food, punting on the Cam, in addition to the American cemetery at Maddingley and a fantastic air museum at Duxford. There are a hop-on/hop-off bus tour and also guided walking tours.
Have a great trip.

Perhaps four hours is a little on the long side, however, I am talking about driving, and as for the trains....if they're true to form expect a ten hour journey time.

what about going to Stonehenge and then to Bath? I remember it wasn't that long of a train ride to either

York is my favorite though. It would be a long day but definitely worth it.

Close to London I would do Windsor - only about 30 minutes by train I think - a very cute town and you can see much of the castle complex.

Another good option close to London is Hampton court Palace. Great buildlng to tour (lots of Tudor history), nice gardens, a wonderful maze to get lost in - and you used to be able to get there by boat from London (we did about 5 years ago).

Also - Greenwich is fun. Again you can go by boat - less than an hour. there are ships to tour, a museum, a great park with the prime meridien building as well as a cute town to explore.

Another option might be Stratford, depending on whether they are interested in that kind of thing. The Avon is lovely, you can feed the swans and perhaps see a play, then do a brass rubbing. Anne Hathaway's cottage is fun for kids as is Mary Arden's where you can see the different kinds of birds, sheep, etc. And if they like to shop there's lots of those.

An easy bus ride away is Warwick Castle where kids have a bit of everything. They can run around the gardens and grounds, see Madame Tussaud's recreation of an Edwardian weekend, go into the dungeons, etc.

If you were feeling adventurous you could also rent a car in Stratford and tour through some of the Cotswold villages like Stow, Chipping Norton and Great Tew.

Oxford and Windsor would also be fun, too.

Be careful when you select a time to see Cambridge. We went on a Saturday--full of locals shopping,etc. Plus it was exam time and ALL colleges were off limits to visitors. This was late May.

Very helpful responses with some great ideas that sound wonderful for the kids! Thanks!