In May 2026, my wife and I will be going to England for the Old Warden air show. Here's the part of our itinerary that is set. We like relaxed travel - not interested in just checking off all the sites. We won't have a car - all trains. We both love history.

- Fly from Toronto May 5
- Spend 3 days in London.
- 2 nights in Biggleswade for the air show
- Cambridge for 3 nights.
- Stamford for 3 nights.

We were then intending to go to Norwich for 3 nights. I'm starting to think Winchester might be better for the last 3 nights before returning to Canada.
But we'd have to go from Stamford to Winchester - maybe a bit of a hassle geographically. The advantage to Norwich is that it would likely be cheaper than Winchester (money isn't a huge deal, though)

I assume you have been to London before?

Yes, I have been to London. We are spending 3 days there, but my wife wants to see some smaller cities. Just a personal preference.

Look at Lincoln and see what you think.

Hopefully helpful suggestion: Maybe ask the Moderators to edit your title a bit to give folks at least a hint about where you are traveling (and tag the thread for the UK) because now it could be about any place anywhere in Europe. I only opened the thread because I was curious.

Are you flying home from LHR? If so for the last stop I'd suggest either Winchester or possibly Salisbury if you haven't been before. Winchester to LHR by Express coach takes about 90 minutes and Salisbury about 2+ hours. Both Norwich and Lincoln are farther from LHR.

Now . . . if you were to reverse the order a bit and do your London days at the end before flying home, then either Lincoln or Norwich would be fine to visit before heading in to London for the final three nights.

You might click the orange triangle to ask the moderators to add a country tag to this thread.

Before making any decisions, I suggest checking out how long it would take to get from Stamford to either Norwich or Winchester by train and from either of those back to LHR. If at all possible avoid travelling by train at weekends when there are more likely to be cancellations or bus replace ment services. Winchester will almost certainly mean connecting through London.

Stamford is a very pretty town but there is not enough there for 3 days. Oakham and Uppingham and teh surrounding countryside are very nice but not sure how practical it would be without a car?

If you haven't been, Oxford might be worthy of consideration. 80 mins by express bus direct to Heathrow and well connected to central London by train. In addition to the city, it is close to the Cotswolds for a day tour, Blenheim Palace is close and of course, bags of history in and around the Uni.

I've wondered whether 3 days might be too much for Stamford - we like a relaxed pace to travel, but I'd rather spend another day in Cambridge and include a day in Ely.

I'd happily stay in Stamford for several days . . . if I had a car. Stamford Shakespeare Company, Burghley House, Rutland Water, Oakham, Belvior Castle, Rockingham Castle, Kirby Hall are all great -- but being limited to public transport would complicate things. Though Burghley House and the Shakespeare theatre are within a couple of miles.

Yes the area around Stamford should be explored in a car

We talked about this today and we've decided to forego Norwich. We've tentatively set up a new plan where we'll return to London for another 3 days after leaving Stamford before flying home from Heathrow. So the trip might look like this:

3 nights in London
2 in Biggleswade for the Old Warden air show
3 in Cambridge - possibly day 2 we can take a cab to Ely for the Cathedral
3 in Stamford
3 more in London

I guess this is a pretty balanced schedule. This way we'd be in London for 6 days - which gives us time for more than just a taste of the city.

Since you are interested in aircraft you might want to spend a day at Duxford, near Cambridge. RAF Duxford played an important role in the Battle of Britain, and was a USAAF bomber base later in the war. After the war it became a branch of the Imperial War Museum, and has about 200 aircraft on display. Some of the hangers are used for restoration of WW II aircraft, and there are usually aircraft flying even on days when there isn’t an air show.

You can take the train from Cambridge to Ely, quicker and cheaper than a cab.

Definitely +1 ^^^

For the Stamford leg, for which we've allotted 3 days, if we spent the middle day, or most of it, at Burghley, would 3 nights still be too much for Stamford? I'm assuming Burghley house would be around 6 hours and would take up the bulk of day 2.