Need an Education In the Provinces

What an awesome board. Awesome. Awesome! 

New member here, reading ravenously, and trying to decide where I should begin my "place" education. We're planning on trying a few-months visit, and I'm at a loss for trying to decide what villages or neighborhoods I should begin investigating. We'd like to take a room or a small flat for a few months, see how it goes. Quite a while from now, but it's not unusual for me to investigate and learn about something for a year early, so although the first trip is quite aways off, I thought I'd start learning.

I'm thinking reasonable train-distance to London-proper, but no need to be super close. An hour or two on a train is nothing to a pair of old New Yorkers. I guess I'm after less touristy areas, decent amount of shops, centuries-old buildings, countryside, market day, evensong ... that sort of thing. (For all I know, I just described every village up and down the rail lines.) The sort of place where we could get more of a feel for just "being there."

Any ideas?

Cambridgeshire or the Cotswolds spring to mind...

Cambridgeshire or the Cotswolds spring to mind...

I was going to say Wiltshire or East Anglia - we must like the same kinds of places.

Thank you!

Cambridgeshire and the Cotwalds look at little too developed for me in general, as does Wiltshire (both had a few-hundred to several-hundred hotel/lodging listings). I guess I'm looking more for a parish church sort of place, as opposed to a place with cathedrals. However - the Cotswolds website gave me a great idea ... We'd need rail service, so I'm going to take a look at the rail map and check out the towns that have stops.

Good thing I enjoy looking! LOL Could take a year! 

Cambridgeshire and the Cotwalds look at little too developed for me in general, as does Wiltshire (both had a few-hundred to several-hundred hotel/lodging listings). I guess I'm looking more for a parish church sort of place, as opposed to a place with cathedrals.

Don't be misled by web searches. Wiltshire is quite a large and varied county; you have biggish towns like Salisbury and Swindon but you also have charming small towns like Bradford On Avon and lots of small villages. It is a real "country" county, a lot of sheep and dairy farming goes on.

Good advice. Certainly, the web folks are going to concentrate on who has the biggest hotels and shopping districts. I have indeed been poking around some of the smaller villages. So much to check out and learn about!

However, I think I may have just fallen in love with Kingham in West Oxfordshire. 

However, I think I may have just fallen in love with Kingham in West Oxfordshire. 

I'd look hard at that railway line to the west of Kingham.  We've got one that's a little farther from where we live and you can hear the fast trains when they go by.  It's not overwhelming, but if you're looking for a village where you really feel like you're way out in the countryside, it might move it down the list a bit.

Good luck in your search.  With the criteria you listed, there's tons to choose from.

Thank you!

Cambridgeshire and the Cotwalds look at little too developed for me in general, as does Wiltshire (both had a few-hundred to several-hundred hotel/lodging listings). I guess I'm looking more for a parish church sort of place, as opposed to a place with cathedrals. However - the Cotswolds website gave me a great idea ... We'd need rail service, so I'm going to take a look at the rail map and check out the towns that have stops.

Good thing I enjoy looking! LOL Could take a year! 

Don't be mislead, as others have pointed out. While it's true you can be in very developed areas, it's very easy to 'get rural' in most parts of England - even within easy commute of London. You might also consider Devon... Exeter is an easy train ride to London and not really a full on city (IMHO). But the rest of Devon is almost exclusively rural (excluding Plymouth of course).

Cornwall and Mid-Wales are quite remote.

Thanks for all the wonderful insight and suggestions - I'm having a great time looking into all of these villages and districts!