Do I need a visa?

I'm trying to take a bit of a holiday, and visit France and the UK.  To visit both my mother's families ancestral home, and my father's families ancestral home, respectively in France and the UK. 

I've read that I don't need a visa to visit France for up to three months, but UK visas and immigration seem exceedingly complex, I don't know if I actually need a visa for the UK.  I'll be touring each country for 6 weeks each. 




Eventually I would like to immigrate to the UK, because I'm looking for an apprenticeship and there isn't anyone here in the US who can teach me the things I want to learn, but that would be next year. 



Thanks for any help,
Britton
(yes that's my real name)

If you're a US citizen, you don't need a visa to visit the UK for up to 6 months. As long as you have a return ticket, evidence of your travel plans and enough money to support yourself for the duration of the trip, you'll be fine. You only need a visa for the UK if you want to move to the UK and you're applying for a work permit/fiancee visa/spousal visa/student visa etc.