Small town taxi drive away from Heathrow?
 

Does anyone have recommendations for a small village or town that is a taxi drive away from Heathrow? I'd like a quiet place where I can recover from my long flight (for two or even three nights) and get over my jet lag before I board another airplane for my destination. I love London the times I've been there, but this trip I just want someplace quiet (and maybe charming) before I move on.

Maybe Southall? And home to one of the greatest concentration of some of the UK's (world's?) best Indian restaurants?

See http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34484980

Best wishes,

Rex

Windsor and Eaton are just a short ride from Heathrow. I don't know if they exactly fit your "quiet" request but they are easy to wander around and, of course, you could also visit Windsor Castle if you'd like. For hotel/B&B recommendations, do a search here on Fodors.

Egham has the very pleasant hotel Great Fosters, a former Tudor hunting lodge. We've stayed there several times and enjoyed it quite a lot--it's perhaps a 20-minute taxi ride from Heathrow.

The Petersham is a wonderful small hotel and great restaurant overlooking the Thames on the edge of Richmond, which is a nice town in itself.

Oh, thank you! I will look up each suggestion on the internet. :)

Cymbeline:

In case it's not obvious, Rex is winding you up. Southall has many charms, but is about as far from meeting your brief as it's possible to imagine.

The French Horn in Sonning is nice; http://www.thefrenchhorn.co.uk

If you are a foodie (and have lots of money) there's Bray-on-Thames, home to 2 of Britain's Michelin 3-star restaurants, the Waterside Inn (which has rooms) and the Fat Duck. It is not far from Windsor. In Windsor there is the Oakley Court Hotel - a gothic riverside mansion which was used as the setting for many horror films and which is on my 'to do' list.

cymbeline

Try www.smoothhound.co.uk for possible B&B's.

Sandy

I don't know what "winding you up" means. Pulling someone's leg? I have never actually been to Southall - - we were planning to do so, bu needed to change our plans.

I didn't say it meets the criteria of "charming (quiet) village" - - but it IS "taxi close" - - and my understanding about its concentration of excellent Indian restaurants is/was sincere, and correct, as far as I know.

Rex:

The brief was for a 'small village or town'. Southall is neither. It's part of the Great West London Suburban Maw.

Its Hindu, Jain and Sikh populations, and their shops restaurants and temples, make it a vibrant and interesting bit of grey, concrete suburbia. But it's still grey, concrete suburbia and - apart from the Sikh temple - almost totally featureless. Slough without the pretty buildings or institutes of higher learning.

Actually, I think cymbeline has a problem. There are a few isolated nice hotels mentioned above. But there really aren't any proper quiet villages or small towns for at least 20-odd miles west of Heathrow and that's likely to make for a pretty pricey cab ride. Even attractive places like Richmond really feel like London suburbs with a few bits of untouched buildings: they simply merge into the next suburb, with no sense of distinctive identity, or gap between them.

Personally, I'd get the half hourly bus to Oxford, which is the most accessible real town to Heathrow. Or lash out on a cab to Marlow (just about the first place on the Thames that doesn't feel suburban) or somewhere further west, like Henley.