Pleasant towns within one to two hours bus/train ride from Heathrow
 

At the risk of all kinds of random people giving me nasty advice - talking to you whathello - I'm wondering if there any suggestions for towns we might visit upon arrival in London this November. Were thinking of spending a few days in a smaller town before we head to London for Thanksgiving. I receive suggestions of Bath, Salisbury, Exeter and a couple of others and wondered if there was anything we were missing.

Were ruling out Oxford as we been there many times. It also needs to be a place that will be fairly easy train or bus to London one were done.

Thanks!

In no particular order: Winchester, Chichester, Canterbury, Faversham, St Albans, Tunbridge Wells, Deal, Cambridge, Bury St Edmonds.

Oxford would have been my 1st recommendation - til I got to your last paragraph.

Bath would be great. Express coach right to the city center from LHR. Plenty to keep you busy. And some great day trip tours using MadMax.

Bristol would also be good.

Yup, Bath or Bristol.

Was posting the same time as sofarsogood. All are good suggestions but transport to some from LHR would be more complicated.

yes we are looking for towns we would go to DIRECTLY from heathrow.

Windsor?

Take the air bus to Feltham train station on the Waterloo - west line for nearly direct links to towns along that line.

There are direct coaches to Cambridge, a bit over two hours. Loads to do there, and Ely's stunning cathedral is only 15 minutes by train. Direct trains back to London - cheaper to go into Liverpool Street than King's Cross.

Faversham on the whole is a dump. SIL lives nearby so I know Faversham.
Amersham is an hour from Heathrow by bus, and on the tube to get you back into London. Not a lot going on there but you could perhaps visit Milton's Cottage in Chalfont St Giles.
Amersham became popular for a while due to the film Four Weddings and a Funeral.

We spent a weekend in Amersham...they have a lovely old town but not much going on. There is a small museum and...that's pretty much it.

I would head to Bath or Windsor.

Bath or Windsor, closer to London is Richmond, plenty of things to do close by eg Kew Gardens, Ham House, Hampton Court Palace etc.

Faversham on the whole is a dump.>

It's a brewery town with odor of suds and hops being cooked but nothing of touristic interest.

If you have not been to Bath, it's a world class treasure.

I loved Winchester, too, but Bath might be more fun in the cold weather.

We used Taxi2Flight to drive us from Heathrow to Bath last year. We arranged to have them stop at Stonehenge so we could visit. Worked out well for us. We enjoyed Our days in Bath and took a Mad Max tour to the Cotswolds one day. Traveled to Londan by train from Bath.

The only direct train line from Heathrow goes to London (Heathrow Express) so it's not a great place to start for train journeys elsewhere in the U.K. There are long-distance buses (known as coaches) but they tend to take longer than trains.


If you start from central London rather than Heathrow, the number of nice towns a short direct train-ride away is almost limitless.

"we are looking for towns we would go to DIRECTLY from heathrow"

...limits you really to Windsor, Bath, Cambridge, Winchester and (at a pinch, though it's more a suburb than a real town) St Albans.

Almost anywhere else isn't worth bothering with or needs a change.

Be aware that most Mad Max tours are not operating in November. I think just tour one is, if I read their web site information correctly.

There are also several places you can reach easily by bus or train from Bath, if the MadMax tours (which I'd never heard of before) are not possible.

We went by bus from Bath to Wells, which is a wonderful town with one of England's most beautiful cathedrals. The bus ride was very pleasant, through pretty countryside.

You can reach Salisbury by train from Bath. You could easily spend several days in Salisbury, but it's also a good day trip.

I think you can also get to Avebury by train and bus from Bath. Avebury has a number of stone circles, not as imposing as Stonehenge, but more numerous. The largest circle is much larger (in diameter) than Stonehenge. In addition, the stones are located in and around the village of Avebury, and you can approach them without impediment.

Taxi2flight is a bit too rich for our blood -140 pounds Heathrow to Batg. Versus 12.

If taking direct bus Heathrow-Bath or any city above that is not right in the London vicinity (like Windsor or Hampton Court, etc) then it is then best in terms of time to take trains back to London and booking tickets in advance can save tons of money- www.nationalrail.co.uk - has all the often myriad of fares with various strings attached but paying full fare - sky high often - is foolish. Check www.seat61.com for keen insight into this- for general info on British trains also good www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com.

Personally of all the many cities listed above and been to all I'd chose Bath for a few days - to me the loveliest city in England outside London.