Hampton Court Palace (outside London): The most magnificent of the grand residences and royal palaces lining the River Thames west of Central London, and surrounded by rolling parkland, Hampton Court was built in grand style for Cardinal Wolsey -- until Henry VIII snatched it away. Henry added the great hall in 1532, forcing laborers to toil 24 hours a day in shifts. The sheer size of the palace is amazing, and on its grounds is the world's first indoor tennis court.

Bath (Avon): Much magnificent 18th-century architecture remains exactly as Jane Austen saw it, despite repeated World War II bombings. At one time, Bath was the most fashionable spa in Britain. Architect John Wood (1704-54), among others, helped create a city of harmony and beauty, with landscaped terraces, famous crescents such as the Royal Crescent, and Palladian villas.

Kenilworth Castle (Warwickshire): Once the home of Simon de Montfort, this castle was the setting for Sir Walter Scott's romantic novel, Kenilworth, first published in 1862, which recounts the supposed murder of Amy Robsart, wife of Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester. Elizabeth I had presented Kenilworth Castle to her favorite earl in 1563. The castle was destroyed after the civil war and is now in ruins. At one time the castle walls enclosed 7 acres.