What places are worth a visit on a day trip from London (other than Winsor) even if it is cold/rainy?

Question

And I am with people whose English isn't fluent.
I am thinking of a nice seaside village/town orther than Brighton for example - but seaside is not essential.

Answer 1

Don't be silly, it's never cold or rainy in England ;P

Answer 2

Go to Cambridge! There are bus tours, and if it's raining you can spend time inside the Fitzwilliam Museum, King's College chapel, and Trinity College Library. Go up the bell tower of Great St Mary's church in the market for a view over the city, and maybe hop off the bus at the American WW2 cemetery north of the city. It's beautifully laid out and has a nice little chapel.

It's an hour by train from Kings Cross, or two hours (or more) by coach from Victoria Coach Station.

Answer 3

Southend On Sea is a nice day trip. It's a straight run thru on the train from Fenchurch Street Station and once there there is a good choice of things to do including....
Walk down the 1 1/3 mile pier (lifeboat station at the end) and ride back on the pier's train
Visit the Sealife Centre
Adventure Island Amusement park (free if you don't want to ride which is refreshing!!)
A huge selection of shops
Some nice pubs
Just down the road at Westclif there is a nice theatre which puts on some good shows
A pebbly beach and miles of mud when the tide goes out, love-er-ly for squishing between your toes (NOT!!! lol)
And possibly the best fish and chips known to man :D

PS I don't live there but do love it as you may have guessed ;)

Answer 4

Have a Trip to Suffolk, go and see the Beautiful Abbey Gardens at Bury St. Edmund's and the also go into Abbey that has recently had Lot's of work done to it, then walk up to the Market,you would have to go on Market day for that which is on a Wednesday.
There are plenty of nice Pubs and Restaurants to eat in.

If you decided to stay over for a few days you could also visit Ely and Cambridge, loads of History in all the places I have mentioned.

Have a Good Trip to wherever you end up.

Answer 5

How about Canterbury, good shops and restaurants, interesting cathedral and town center and not too far.

further but better is Bath (and if you go by car you could go via stonehenge) - 2 1/2 hours by car and well worth a visit.

If you want seaside there really is nowhere better than Brighton but you could go to Portsmouth (as long as you are interested in ships).

Answer 6

Try Colchester. It has a zoo, good shops & a castle and there are plenty of nice places to eat.
To get there by train, there is one every half hour from London Liverpool Street and it cost about £20 return.
By road it the A12. Free carpark at Colchester North Station and about a mile walk, otherwise there are plenty of carparks around the town.

Answer 7

Try Stratford on Avon, Even when cold wet and windy the Yorkshire Dales are fantastic. You have not stated how you travel, so you could check up on National Express Coaches, they do plenty of day excursions and the return fares are quite reasonable.

Answer 8

Leeds Armoury.
Bovingdon Camp (Tank Museum).
Yorvik Centre.
Various zoos - Woburn, Chessington, Wipsenade etc.

Have a look on Lastminute.com These are good for theme parks etc.

Answer 9

Canterbury is well worth a trip!

Oxford and Cambridge are well within easy travelling distance.

The train to Bath only takes just over an hour and a half.

Answer 10

Why not a trip on the Thames down to Kew Gardens, or the opposite direction to Greenwich.

Answer 11

The museums in Kensington, V&A, technology and organic historic past museums....all loose and around the corner to a minimum of one yet another....on the edge of Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park too. there is the London Eye, Tower of London, Trafalger sq. and the vacationer buses and boat journeys.