If you enjoy theater, go to the Globetheater.
It’s possible to have a shite one, though, too…although I concede that the element of chance is preferable to certain failure at Welcome Break. (I recently had a top-notch freshly-baked steak pie at a services on the A1, having driven past all the motorway ones 
)
Please visit The White Horse - it’s just magnificent.
http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/oxfordshire/featured-sites/uffington-white-horse-and-dragon-hill.html Also close to The Ridgeway. Stonehenge, well, you’ve seen the pictures, as other posters mention there are plenty of other sights. The Rollright Stones have an amazing atmosphere although there’s not much to them. England is peppered with ancient sites.
The B&B is definitely the way to go.
Check this blog for eateries:
http://russelldavies.typepad.com/ateaandathink/
Really though, you can just bumble around.
Brill - Wikipedia My little village! Some people say it’s Bree from the Lord of the Rings - we are a hairy toed lot so there may be some truth in that.
If you’re into the Industrial Revolution there are several museums I’ve found fascinating but can’t for the life of me remember where they are. The Clifton Suspension Bridge up on the Downs is impressive. I wonder if Banksys exhibition will still be on there when you go.
http://www.completely-cotswold.com/bourton/attract/village/village.htm Another treasure in the Cotswolds.
The B&B route sounds good. I’ve stayed in enough hotels in my life, different is better. Following everyone’s links has been the best part, I would have never run across these places.
I understand the M roads are equivalent to US interstate highways and the A roads are more typical roads. What’s with pubs, isn’t that English for bar? Did I miss something?
I’m afraid not: it finishes on August 31st.
Lord above, do not go to Blackpool. It’s a complete shit hole. If you want to visit the north, and let’s face it, who doesn’t, then York or Chester are two Roman and Viking cities, (York, having once been the capital of the north, has more to do, with a load of museums, the minster etc.)
Manchester, the UK’s second city, is also a good base for exploring North Wales, Derbyshire, the Fylde Coast, rural Lancashire, the Lake District, Liverpool etc. from (and has a lot to see in its own right).
Blimey.
I’ve never seen so many parking spaces available in Bourton.
I do believe that there is a trophy awarded annually to the best/cheapest/cleanest/value for money Transport Cafe in the UK.
A few years ago I had a meal at the winning TC which is just outside Connahs Quay, N.Wales but I forget the name of it
Birmingham wants a word with you over that second city thing.
They can have as many words as they want; doesn’t change the fact that Manchester’s the second city. Birmingham’s not even in the same league.
This is why England (along with a lot of Europe) is different to America. You can see 4,000yo monuments and they’re just sitting by the side of the road. No roller coasters or people dressed as caveman, they just sit there, watching the centuries drift by.
Based on what? Birmingham is the country’s second largest city in terms of population and economics.
Based on the opinions of the British public (second survey), sporting achievements, cultural output (for a start, bands from Manchester have dominated the charts for the last thirty years) etc.
The opinion polls aren’t a bad basis for the argument, although I note that the first one was commissioned by “Marketing Manchester”- but sporting achievements and record sales? Really?
On that basis, Los Angeles is the most important city in the world!
Both polls were by Ipsos MORI. It doesn’t matter who commissioned them—surely somebody had to.
And based on population Mexico city is the most important city in the world. Why do you think the polls are like they are? Why is Manchester so popular in the 18–35 age range, compared to Birmingham. Because Manchester is a cultural centre, and Birmingham isn’t (to the same extent).
Birmingham itself is bigger than the city of Manchester, but if you take the population of the entire urban areas (so including Salford, Bolton etc.), they are very close.
In terms of cultural and possibly economic clout, I would agree that Manchester beats Brum hands down.
Well if you ask me, and nobody did, I’d say that Manchester is the number one city.
As the saying goes “What Manchester does today London does tomorrow”
And Brummigham probably never gets around to doing it 
As a matter of fact monuments in England and Europe date back much earlier than 4000 years.
The earliest stones laid at Stonehenge date back to around 3100BC.
I was in Guernsey last year and there are some Dolmens which also date back over 5000 years.
Gives you a strange feeling when you stand there and just absorb that fact, some guys all those years ago were stood right where you are now
My partner and I have a tendency, when we see something really old and manmade, to just stand there and say,
“With their hands!”
“Hands just like our hands… fucked up.”