A Trip Through Charming England
If England isn’t on your bucket list, it needs to be. It is quaint, charming, and full of adorable tea shops.
We flew to Heathrow Airport in London and met our Orlando friend, Casey, for our 8 night road trip. As we landed, we were welcomed to London by the pilot saying “Cheerio.” We picked up the rental car and started our journey.
Trip date: October 2022
A quick look at our day-to-day itinerary:
Day 1: Drive from London to Oxford
Day 2: Explore Oxford
Day 3: Drive through the Cotswolds and arrive in Bournemouth
Day 4: Explore Bournemouth
Day 5: Durdle Door Adventures
Day 6: Drive to London
Day 7: Explore London
Day 8: Harry Potter Tour and last night in London
Day 1: Oxford
Oxford is a medieval, university town. It was energetic and lively. We stayed at the Sporthouse B&B and spent two days here exploring on foot.
For just 35 pounds, the three of us had a relaxing punt boat ride around Oxford University. It was so much fun! And this was the perfect time to go, seeing the gorgeous fall leaves. Normally, the guides are Oxford students, but ours was not. He was still able to teach us a lot about the dozens of colleges of Oxford University.
You could save 10 pounds by punting yourself, but it is worth it to get the guide- not just for the informative tour, but for the ease of the journey. We saw others with no guide and they were struggling. It was very relaxing having a guide.
This is a MUST DO when visiting Oxford!
Day 2: Oxford
This was a full day of exploration, starting with walking around Christ Church Meadow. October made this spot extra beautiful with the colors of fall everywhere. Ahh the red ivy crawling up the building was gorgeous. I loved it!
Next stop was a tour of the Oxford Castle and Prison. It was built in 1009, converted to a prison in 1216, and was used until 1996. Mostly used for rowdy college students towards the end. It was neat being able to explore the old tower and the cellar. Apparently a ghost lives in the corner and doesn’t let your camera work there, but I was able to snag a photo. No ghost that day!
Fun fact: Alice in Wonderland was written in Oxford.
We had a long walk along the canal, stopping for drinks along the way, and saw the Isis Lock. The lock had a pretty black bridge. Lunch was at the Holly Bush, where we shared a delicious salad and pizza. The Old Bookbinders Bar was off the beaten path and was a super neat find, thanks to Greg. It was eclectic with matchbooks and coasters on the walls, and even had a big barrel of free peanuts.
Gotta love travel Greg for always finding us cool spots!
Casey’s luggage unfortunately didn’t make it initially. It had finally arrived to the Heathrow Airport, but they had not yet delivered it to us in Oxford. She only had the clothes she flew in and the minimal items in her backpack. And before you say, Kasey, why didn’t you share your clothes?! I offered but she declined. She was very thankful that she wore her comfy walking shoes onto the plane.
Travel tip from Casey: Always wear your walking shoes and carry your essentials onto the plane, in case your checked luggage doesn’t make it.
Well after 2 days of the same clothes, and still not having her luggage, she decided to finally do some shopping at the outdoor mall. This was a perfect time for me to get a few new items too- 2 pairs of jeans and a fluffy jacket. I was excited to have some new options to add into the mix.
Day 3: Drive through the Cotswolds
Stops long the drive: Stow on the Wold, Upper and Lower Slaughter, Bourton on the Water, Salisbury, Bournemouth
Ahhh this was a lovely day! Drives are never that great, but the spots we stopped at were quaint and beautiful!
Our first stop was Stow on the Wold. We grabbed to-go coffee and pastries at the Coach House. Delicious! Stow on the Wold is a great town to have lunch or even to stay the whole day. There were many cute shops, but none of them were open yet.
Next, we drove through Upper and Lower Slaughter. Lower Slaughter was adorable!! We parked and walked along the stream, admiring the cute cottages. We followed the water and checked out the mill and its’ small shop.
Then, we had a long stop at Bourton on the Water. It is such a cute town- definitely one of my favorite quaint spots we have been. Much larger than Lower Slaughter. It seemed like a local holiday town. We had pastries, coffee, and tea at The Bakery on the Water. Luckily, we got there before there was a line out the door!
With the bridges, benches, boutique shops, and colorful trees, this town felt quite romantic.
Lots of people were out and about, many enjoying Saturday brunch or playing in the stream with their dogs. We acted like locals and checked out the small craft fair.
Salisbury was our last stop before arriving to our final destination, Bournemouth. We had drinks at a brewery along the river and ate lunch at a bar that was celebrating Oktoberfest. We were hoping for live music or entertainment for the event, but really it just consisted of some German food.
There was an Alice and Wonderland event happening in the city. Lots of groups were walking around dressed up as Cheshire cats, Tweedle Dees and Dums, etc. There was also a big farmers market in the main square. It was a happening Saturday!
Day 4: Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a seaside city in southern England. With a pier and large ferris wheel, it seemed like a place that was a resort town back in the 80s or 90s.
While walking towards the beach, we discovered the Bournemouth Half Marathon. We stood on the pier and cheered on some of the runners.
We had an amazing seafood feast at West Beach. We highly recommend! Greg and I both said this was our favorite meal out of our entire 2022 European adventures.
We had to book this experience by 5pm on Friday so it would be ready for us today (Sunday). Between the 3 of us, we shared 2 roasted seabass accompanied with lots of veggies, shrimp, salad, olives, scallops, and rose wine. It was a fantastic experience! This was a very long lunch, but we didn’t care because we had the beach beside us, gorgeous weather, and no other plans. We sat there for 4 hours! This was our only activity today, so we soaked it up.
Oh and we had coffee and pastries there prior to lunch :) I’m not sure we had a day in England without coffee or pastries, but why would we?!
Day 5: Bournemouth Adventures
From Bournemouth, we took a day trip to Durdle Door, which was about 45 minutes away. This was absolutely amazing!
We parked at the Lulworth Cove trail head and walked along the trail until winding up at the beach. The rock formation, Durdle Door, was incredible! We had a picnic lunch on the cliff top. We had many picnic lunches in 2022, but this was one of the best ones!
At the Man O’ War Cove, I walked all the way to the end of the rocky beach and I’m so glad I did! Most people stop at the arch and do not continue along the beach. It’s rare to find a place without anyone else around, but this spot was one of them! There were people on the first 1/4 of the beach, but the rest was completely empty (see the above picture). I was awed by the by the tall white cliffs and little nooks and caves. It was so cool to see ONLY my footprints in the sand. I enjoyed this solo time admiring the beautiful coastline.
Durdle Door is a must visit!
Day 6: Drive to London
On our way to London, we stopped in Winchester for lunch and explored for about 2 hours. Winchester is a walkable medieval town with lots of shops and eateries. We explored the remains of the castle and walked around the cathedral.
We ate lunch at The Ivy. This is a chain, which we normally try to avoid, but decided to check it out anyway. It was filled with fun and colorful decor and the prettiest wallpaper I’ve seen. It had the cutest bathrooms ever! This is not something I normally rank, but I was blown away by this one- Pink, gold, tropical bird wallpaper, a statue, and a ceiling covered with flowers. You’ve got to check it out!
We didn’t do it, but they have an afternoon tea experience which I bet is fabulous.
We then drove straight to London and did some sightseeing after checking into our Airbnb. Our airbnb? It was a boat on the Thames River!
Day 7: London
We started the day with a walk along the river and had coffee at The Bell and Crown. When in England, daily pastries and coffee and/or tea are essential! Just don’t be like me and spill coffee all over your pants while raising your mug for a photo…
The tide on the Thames River is insane! During half of the day, the boats are sitting on the river bed. This is when people go mud-larking to collect things found on the bottom of the river. Our airBNB host even had mud-larking equipment for us, but we did not participate.
For lunch we found a spot that had BOGO pizzas and happy hour on draft beers/ciders. Score!
We spent the afternoon exploring the city, which consisted of taking many train and tube rides. There are endless amounts of sightseeing activities in London and we surely couldn’t do it all in just our couple of days there, nor did we want to try to cram all of them in. But a few things we did:
-London Bridge
-Walked across the Tower Bridge (and saw the drawbridge raise)
-Walked through Borough Market
-Westminster Abbey
-Saw the guards at Buckingham Palace
-Big Ben
-Tower of London
-Ate dumplings in China Town
*These activities were divided between 2 days
We had a unique cocktail experience at the Chelsea Funhouse Bletchley Bar. The funhouse has 3 floors, each with a different experience. From the main lounge, we were taken to the WW2 bunker where we had to de-code puzzles and disarm a ‘bomb.’ Cocktails were unique and made specially for each person. The bartender created drinks for us based on how we answered questions such as choosing our favorite shape, favorite food, country, and even smelling vials and picking out our favorite aromas. We had agent names too: Chipper, Hopper, and Kitty. It was immersive and fun!
Day 8: London
This morning, we walked along the river in the opposite direction. We saw some significant locks, which Greg was excited about (he absolutely loves the engineering of locks). Me, I was more happy with our riverside coffee and pastries at Rye on the Water. Everything there was super fresh.
For lunch, we stayed on the boat and ate sandwiches and chips. Money saving tip :)
Now, onto one of the things I’ve always wanted to do in my life….
The Warner Bros Studios tour for the Making of Harry Potter!
This was such an incredible experience! A dream really.
The Great Hall was decorated for the Halloween feast. I almost cried when we entered. It was absolutely amazing; I could have stayed in there all day!
Did you know they used real candles at the beginning of filming? But the flames burnt through the fishing wire and kept falling down, so they had to turn to CGI.
There was a special Dark Arts event happening while we were there. Deatheaters would appear and do impromptu shows.
The Forbidden Forest was spectacular! It was dark, foggy, and spooky… even better than I imagined! It even had big animatronic spiders crawling down the webs.
Before hitting the halfway point, we walked through the Hogwarts Express and saw some of the most iconic scenes. The halfway point was outside which included amazing props, such as the 3 story knight bus. It was so neat walking through the Dursley house on Privet Drive and grabbing a mandrake in the herbology greenhouse. The second part of this studio tour was more of the art and design, which was also super amazing. Fans could spend days here reading all of the interesting information!
Hogwarts was absolutely incredible! If you are a Harry Potter fan, I know this is already on your bucket list.
England was amazing! If you are new to world traveling, this would be a fantastic country to start in. And if you’re a world explorer already, then you probably already know England is a spot you need to visit!
Ready to plan your trip?! Comment below or reach out to us at Connect Travel Adventures!
Check out more of our travels in England HERE!