Bibury is difficult to get to by public transport from London - National Express coach to Cirencester (2hr 20m) then a haphazardly connecting infrequent local bus that takes 15 minutes
Or train to Moreton in Marsh (1hr 40) and then a bit over an hour on a local bus changing in Northleach
Doable, but a lot of travelling and maybe waiting around for a place that delightful as it is takes half an hour max to see.
Oxford? Easy to reach from London, historic colleges and museums and since your kids are university age they may enjoy seeing Oxford. It's a nice day trip.
York is another doable day trip from London. Great cathedral town surrounded by old medieval walls. Fabulous cathedral and historic city center. There's also Jorvik viking center, which your children may enjoy.
I'll agree with another poster that providing recommendations is stabbing in the dark a bit without knowing what you really like to do. Are you interested in castles and historic stately homes (are your kids budding architects?). There's Hampton Court outside London, and Knole in Sevenoaks, also outside London. Knole is one of the most ancient houses in Britain and well worth a visit if you're interested in Elizabethan and Jacobean history and decorative arts. It's quite magical. Both are easily reachable via public transportation from central London. But your kids may be bored if they only care for video games or hip urban markets.
Bibury is a lovely village but it's one of those places that once you get there and walked around for half an hour, you've seen it and there's bugger all to do. It's best used as a base for exploring the Cotswold, rather than a destination in itself. If you want to see a lovely English town then consider Salisbury, which has one of the most beautiful cathedrals in England, and is surrounded by the famous Salisbury cathedral close. The town itself is quite lovely too. You could combine a visit to Salisbury with seeing Wilton House, one of the great stately homes of Britain, which is just outside the town.
I know Broadway market well enough. And I won't recommend going there. Why? It's geared to London residents, not visitors. And residents who live in the general vicinity of Broadway. And it's not particularly big, just a few blocks long. You'd probably spend more time getting to the market then at the market itself and you're not going to see anything at Broadway that you can't find in the other markets in a more central location. I wouldn't advise going to Broadway over, say Borough Market or Camden as the latter two are much more centralized and bigger. Yes, they're more touristy but you're a tourist.
True - tourists we are, but we'd like to experience culture as authentically as we can.
So in our 7 day stay in London we would have day trips to:
York, Bath, Stone Henge, Windsor Palace, Brighton, Wilton House / Salisbury
skip Bibury.
I feel like its too much. We still want to experience London :). What should I eliminate?
York for starters it is not a day trip. In 7 days I would chooses a maximum of 3 day trips one to give you time to see London, also going somewhere every day is tiring and trains and buses can get quite tedious. I would do Bath, Salisbury and Brighton.
Richiavo - York isn't a day trip from London? It's an easy 2 hour train journey from London. Leave at 7, get there at 9, you have plenty of time to see the compact city center (easy walk from the station), the Cathedral, walk around parts of the city walls, visit Jorvik or the other museums in the city, have a lovely lunch, there's markets in the center, look at the charmingly picturesque Shambles. Then catch a return train at 5. Plenty of people do it, I've even done it as a stopover on the way to Edinburgh. I personally find York much more rewarding than Brighton, unless one wants to go to the sea.
I'll just say this about Broadway - I was once in Park Slope in Brooklyn on a day there was a street market. And it was pretty much the same. Stalls selling prepared food, lots of pastries, smoked fish and fancy cheeses, some stalls selling cheap old clothes, most of the clientele were hipsters and other typical moderately upscale urban people. That's what I meant, it's not culturally or uniquely English or a specific London personality. You're not running into a bunch of ye olde Cockney characters. And it's small, not a big market. Going there will take you to a different part of London outside the main tourist areas but it's not a particularly special or pretty part of London either. Borough is much more interesting as it does have a wow factor, but it does get quite crowded. By the way, Broadway is only on Saturdays, Borough operates from Thursdays-Saturdays, Camden is daily.
Another big market, albeit touristy, is Portobello Road in Notting Hill.
Hi there Mike,
Definitely head to East London on the weekend, there are so many markets- Broadway market on Saturday only and Columbia and Brick Lane on Sunday only (10 minute walk from each other) Easy to get to the area by tube, Liverpool street station/ Bethnal Green station are the best tube stops, both a 10 minute walk to the heart of cool vintage and food stalls on Brick Lane. For something fun to do in the area, which will give you a taste of the street art, history , and the English food, check out Eating London food tours, this will be one of the best things you will ever do with your family- www.eatinglondontours.co.uk, enjoy!