Itinerary For Our Southern England Trip

At the end of the month, Joshua and I, as well as my parents, my middle brother and Josh’s sister, will visit Great Britain. We will leave on Thursday night, July 31, and return on Tuesday, August 19. This will give us eighteen full days in which to explore much of Southern England.

We planned an itinerary that we thought would be pleasing to everyone. There is a varied mix of cities and towns, cathedrals, abbeys and churches, art museums and history museums, castles and country homes, ancient military fortifications and old engineering marvels, and historic attractions of all varieties on our itinerary. We will see a large swathe of the English countryside, all the way from the English Channel to Bristol Bay. During most of our trip, we will be able to stay two nights in one place (and three nights in Bath), but we will have three one-night stops (Salisbury, Lynmouth and Oxford). We will also be able to attend theater performances in London, Chichester, Plymouth, Bath and Stratford-Upon-Avon.

I think our itinerary is a splendid one, not only packed with interesting things to see and do but also perfectly paced. We will have plenty of time to visit everything we want to see without being rushed. Our days will be full of activity but not hectic. Each day will be devoted to something completely different from the previous day. I think it may be one of the best trips we have ever planned.

This will be the first trip outside the U.S. for Josh’s sister, and we especially hope that she will enjoy our travels. She is very excited—she practically has our entire itinerary memorized—and she is most looking forward to visiting Oxford.

Josh is very excited, too, because the only part of Britain he has previously visited is London. On this trip, he will be able to visit many of Britain’s most important attractions in the South, and he is most looking forward to visiting Canterbury Cathedral.

My brother is very excited, because he loves Great Britain above all other European countries. He is most looking forward to a return visit to Lynmouth.

My mother is most looking forward to visiting Saint Ives, which my parents have never visited, and returning to Rye. My father is most looking forward to a return visit to Rye, which he and my mother visited many years ago—on their honeymoon.

I most look forward to a return visit to Salisbury Cathedral, which I could visit daily, I often believe.

Our day-by-day itinerary appears below.