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A trip that couldn’t happen in 2020 because of the Pandemic finally materialized in 2024.
We spent 21 days in Kingston, a suburb of London-bigger place, cheaper than London proper, quieter area and very easy to get into the city from here. There were grocery stores, shops, restaurants and pubs in the immediate area as well as a quaint town. We used public transportation while on this leg of the trip and found it very easy to navigate. Our place was about 10 minutes from the train station. Several buses were nearby too which we also utilized.
We rented a car for the next portion of our adventure. We picked it up at Heathrow (and got an automatic-worth Every extra penny) and headed out to the Cotswolds. We spent 10 days in this area. Our rental was exceptionally lovely and the weather was, I guess, rather typical.
Our last stop was Cornwall. We stayed in Mousehole and our place had a water view. It was quite easy to get around from this location.
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Kingston Upon Thames/London area- Highlights:
Our rental was convenient to the train and buses. It was a huge complex; the view wasn’t great. If you have ever seen “Rear Window” that would give you an idea of our “view” ... That said, it was clean, had laundry facilities, outdoor space, comfy bedroom (an additional bedroom we only used as a closet) 2 full bathrooms and a decent kitchen.
Kingston Upon Thames-lovely town, great restaurants, easy to navigate and we felt very comfortable in this area. Definitely do the guided walking tour here, very interesting with great animated guide.
Oyster card-we sent for these before we left the US and it was easy-peasy to use the public transportation system. Note however that it (the Oyster card) doesn’t get you to Windsor Castle.
Kew Palace-also worthwhile and enjoyable.
National Gallery-lovely collection, worth a visit.
Buckingham Palace-Duh, it’s the Palace! Very nice audio guide.
Hampton Court Palace-Another Duh, it’s a Palace!
Billingsgate Roman House & Baths-interesting if ruins are your thing.
London Bridge/Tower Bridge-Do the tour, it is interesting.
Tower of London-A must!
Windsor Castle-also a must do! The area around the castle, while quite commercial, was nice as well.
Churchill War Rooms-if you are a WWII nerd (as are we), this is a must do.
Changing of the guard-lucked on to this, was interesting, roadway leading up to Buckingham Palace is really lovely-lots of guards outside Clarence House….
Parliament Guided Tour-worthy of being on your to-see list.
Highgate Cemetery-if you are cemetery nerds (as we are) this is also a must do! The guide was fabulous.
We did many other things while in this area. The Zoo was a nice day out, walking the Tow Boat canal was interesting, searching out the Old Bell (300-year-old pub), The Eye, Selfridge’s, Chinatown, Camden Market, Abby Road and various interesting looking pubs/restaurants along the way, to name a few. We enjoyed all of these.
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Kingston Upon Thames/London area- Lowlights:
Sincerely we were not disappointed in anything in London/Kingston Upon Thames! The guides, the transportation, the food, the pubs, etc. all exceeded our expectations.
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Cotswolds Area- France Lynch-Highlights:
Our cottage rental (Oxford Cottage) was storybook cozy and adorable. It had all the great amenities-full kitchen, washing machine, huge bathroom, comfy bed and a nice outdoor space which we sadly were never able to utilize.
All the pubs/restaurants in this area were quite good with friendly service.
Bibury-worth a stop.
Snowshill-quirky, interesting stop.
Sudley Castle & Gardens-interesting site, good guide.
We popped into a few antique stores, several churches, Broadway Tower, a model village and tried a walk on the footpaths….
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Cotswolds Area- France Lynch-Lowlights:
A Lot of rain! It hampered being able to walk the footpaths, they were a sloppy mess.
Rain also hampered our visit to Painswick, we loved our meal at a little place here but we really couldn't enjoy the town and the “fair” that was going on the day we visited.
Tried to stop at Lower Slaughter-jam packed, no parking to be found-ended up just going through. Amazing considering this was nearly off season for this area.
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Cornwall-Mousehole, Penzance-Highlights:
Our place was a stand alone rental with a sea view. Nice deck but it was quite chilly so we didn’t use it as we normally would. The place was clean, kitchen equipped and we found the location suitable for our travels.
St. Michaels Mount-interesting place, nice tour, lovely grounds-water covered the pathway as we dined across the sea after our tour.
Trengwainton Garden-lovely garden, still beautiful in mid-October! Very friendly staff.
Cruk Trengyffian-interesting prehistoric site.
Carn Euny-another interesting prehistoric site-fun to get to!
Land’s End-kitschy but glad we ventured here.
Botallack Mine-film location for Poldark.
We popped into churches and pulled off the road when we saw great doors to photograph or signs noting ancient sites.
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Cornwall-Mousehole, Penzance-Lowlights:
None that really come to mind. It was chilly, but it was October.
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Overall, our trip to England surpassed our expectations. London was wonderful. Great food, wonderful guides, so much history and I mean Palaces!!! We were lucky enough to catch the changing of the guard. So very much to see here. We were very happy with our stay in Kingston for this part of the trip as it worked out wonderfully for us.
The Cotswolds were quite idyllic. While the rain kept us from doing some of the activities we might have enjoyed it really didn’t hamper our visit there. Our place was gorgeous and all the food/drink we had in this area was fabulous.
The Cornwall area was terrific as well. We loved the sea view and the opportunity to be near the sea for sites and restaurants. There is a lot of ancient history in the area and it is quite easy to navigate.
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We spent our last night in England at Barton’s Mill in Old Basing, Basingstoke Hampshire, a stop on the way back to Heathrow from Cornwell. A converted mill, nice restaurant with outdoor beer garden as well as indoor dining. Attached motel was comfortable for our overnight stay. Approximately 40 minutes from the airport this was a nice stopover.
American Airlines got us to London and back to O’Hare with no glitches. This was a wonderful trip. Any questions on tours/guides/rentals/etc. email us at luvtworoam@yahoo.com
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