England and Wales

[The Dog]

There are serious delays at immigration at Heathrow, so I would suggest using another airport if possible.

I prefer Manchester or Gatwick. Gatwick has reasonably priced trains running directly from the terminal to downtown london. The best deal when I was there last was First capital Connect to St Pancras station. Last I checked the London Express to Victoria Station was considerably more expensive. However, if you are finicky, Gatwick is a dump and can have customs issues, particularly now in the Olympic period.

Manchester is a bit remote if you are planning to visit Bath/the Cotswolds (though very convenient for Bury - there are worse places). If arriving at Gatwick and want to avoid London, there is a direct train to Reading, from which there are trains to Bath or Oxford.

[Quidnunc]

I personally really enjoyed Chester. Small town, medieval walls, nice Roman ruins, covered shopping arcades. Good for a two day visit. Oxford was also nice, good for a few days.

[rumpelstilzchen]

If you are starting from London, although technically not en route surely Cambridge is a must see? It's about an hour and a half from Heathrow.
Then Moreton-in-Marsh, Stow-on-the-Wold, Bourton-on-the-Water, Burford and Oxford
I would advise you to rent a car.
The architecture in Bath is beautiful. If you are going to go to Wells in Somerset once you've got that far I always think it's madness not to go the whole hog and get yourself down to Cornwall. Somewhere like Fowey (pronounced Foy) will blow you away. Then there's Mevagissey, Port Isaac...
You sure you can only spare eight days?

[Burnaby49]

If you are starting from London, although technically not en route surely Cambridge is a must see? It's about an hour and a half from Heathrow.
Then Moreton-in-Marsh, Stow-on-the-Wold, Bourton-on-the-Water, Burford and Oxford
I would advise you to rent a car.
The architecture in Bath is beautiful. If you are going to go to Wells in Somerset once you've got that far I always think it's madness not to go the whole hog and get yourself down to Cornwall. Somewhere like Fowey (pronounced Foy) will blow you away. Then there's Mevagissey, Port Isaac...
You sure you can only spare eight days?

Been there, done that. I actually stayed the night at Stow-on-the-Wold and visited Bourton-on-the-Water(flagrant abuse of hyphens here) twice. My opinion? Potemkin villages. Quintessential Cotswald villages and, because of this, about as real as Disneyland.

[wserra]

Potemkin villages.

Nice reference. Haven't thought of 'em since that font of wisdom, Blazing Saddles.

[The Dog]

I've just noticed that the long-awaited plans to redevelop visitors' facilities at Stonehenge are starting.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/trave ... begin.html
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/days ... our-plans/

Stonehenge will remain open during the period, but there is likely to be building work.

[Burnaby49]

Potemkin villages.

Nice reference. Haven't thought of 'em since that font of wisdom, Blazing Saddles.

I recently read the Robert Massie biography of Catherine the Great. Grigory Potemkin plays a large part in it. Highly recommended. His biography of Peter the Great is even better. Of course Potemkin's fake villages can't be compared to the concept of tollbooths for bushwackers and thieves.

"The Petomane Throughway? Now what will that a****le think of next? Has anybody got a dime? Somebody's got to go back and get a s***load of dimes."

Sheer genius.

[Prof]

Thank all of you for your advice. Mrs. Prof and I had a great trip. We rented a car, saw Cambridge, Keswick, Conwy (Wales), Chipping Camden, Wells and Bath, along with the surrounding countryside at each and in between. We wound up on London for two nights and went to Westminter and Westminster Abbey (for Evensong), spending our last full day at the British Library and the British Museum. While there was rain almost everywhere, we had raincoats.

Most memorable single sight: We had gone from Keswick to Windermere (Lake District). We were walking along the Windermere, when, roaring in from the South, came two WWII Spitfires, about 500 feet above the water. As CKB would say, "Cool!"

One observation: The English treat speed limits as polite suggestions, more ignored than obeyed!