Day trips - Lake District or others?

Lake District as a day trip is less plausible than Dublin or Paris. It's 300 miles away and doesn't have an airport and the train isn't very fast - and when you get there on the fast-ish train you still aren't there and have to hire a car (the local trains aren't very helpful). When I was young and mad I would sometimes drive there for trip as short as a 2-night break, but it helped that I lived outside London to the NW. These days I'd want at least 3 nights to make it worthwhile for the 5 hour drive (if I was lucky and there were no hold-ups).

What trips would you suggest for a first time visitor to England?

It depends where your interests lie; and where you come from and what's normal to you. If you like the really ancient, I'd have a day out in a car concentrating on Wiltshire's most visitable ancient sites (I exclude Stonehenge from that list) including Avebury, Cherhill white horse, West Kennet Longbarrow, and perhaps Marlborough. Or maybe you could stretch it to include Uffington White Horse and Waylands Smithy to make a longer day of it. Or Old Sarum might be included. But if your interest in the ancient is more marginal, you might have 10 mins at Avebury on the way to/from Bath in a car. Otherwise I'd go to Bath on the train.

What about castles? Do you want a ruinous mediaeval castle? Rochester is probably the most accessible ruined mediaeval castle from London, 45 mins on the train, also includes cathedral and Charles Dickens interest, and nice high St.

What about naval history? The classic destination is Portsmouth, which is around an hour on the train, but Chatham dockyard is also fun and is right next door to Rochester (take a local taxi to avoid wasting time getting there).

York is easily do-able as a day-trip because it has a fast train that takes just 2 hours. It isn't a substitute for the Lake District, it's more a substitute for any other historic city. How may historic cities do you want? The ones you have mentioned so far don't have much in the way of cathedrals, but York is the finest in the country. Might be a better idea than Bath, depends if you prefer mediaeval or Georgian.

Otherwise, read a guidebook and see what appeals to you rather than your friend.

Of the places you mention, Brighton Bath, Oxford and Cambridge by train, Cotswolds by car (perhaps as a daytrip) from BAth. Lake District if you are prepared to spend a night or two away from London. Surprised the list doesn't include Winchester, Salisbury, York, all of which are possible day trips from London by train.

one place you haven't mentioned, which basically you do need a car to get around - Cornwall - it is a truly magnificent area.

York is a great place but easily reached by train and imo probably a better place to wander around by yourself. I loved the Castle Museum - well what I saw of it, TB walked past everything quickly.

Bath - again easily reached by train. First visit we had a car, parking was sort of a problem. Train station closer than where we parked. Though the car was handy to see other things, which however we probably would have seen via a hop on hop off bus.

Cotswolds is another area I love but you can get a taste of the Cotswolds with a day bus tour. We stayed in Stow on the Wold which was a lovely area and I would love to go back and check out further. We had two nights there, first day TB was ill and I stayed with him all day/night. Second day on our return, I went to go for a walk around the town and it started raining - I wasn't happy.

If you can find your way back down to my place, I am happy to go through your itinerary and help you make decisions. Have a great road map of England and other stuff.

Assuming these are day trips from London

Cotswolds - get a car
Lake District - forget it, too far
Brighton - take a train (see http://www.visitbrighton.com/plan-your-visit/getting-here/train-travel)
Bath - take a train (see http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/)
Oxford - take the bus (http://www.oxfordtube.co.uk)
Cambridge - take the train (http://www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk/‎ ex Kings Cross is fast, http://www.abelliogreateranglia.co.uk/‎
ex Liverpool Street is slow and cheap).

Also consider visiting Stratford Upon Avon for Shakespeare (http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/‎ ex Marylebone station).

Agree with the above post. Oxford, Brighton and Bath and the easiest to get too and can be done in a day. Oxford in particular is great and you won't need to hire a car, very regular coach service from central London to Central Oxford for £13 return I do believe.

Any further and it won't be worth the visit due to transport times. I also suggest smaller market towns like St Albans which are about half an hours train ride out of London and are great for tourists (it's like a small york)

If you need to drop something then Brighton is a good choice, go for a smaller quainter place like Rye.

thoroughly recommend the Oxford Tube bus - if you do that, push your way on first and sit upstairs in the very front. Lovely scenery along the way and different to getting a train. Trains are good but getting this bus is different and fun. Though must admit the trip back to London seemed to take forever, especially as we hit a busy time.