What to do in UK

The King's Guard hand over duty on the forecourt of Buckingham Palace, bearskins on, band playing, the whole thing done to the minute. It runs on set mornings rather than daily for much of the year, so check the date before you go. Get there early, or you'll be watching the back of someone's head.

The castle sits on a plug of volcanic rock above the city, and has been fortress, prison and royal residence in turn. Inside you'll find the Honours of Scotland (the oldest crown jewels in Britain), the Stone of Destiny and tiny St Margaret's Chapel, the oldest building in Edinburgh. Stay for the One O'Clock Gun.

Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild built this Buckinghamshire pile in the 1870s in the style of a Loire chateau, then filled it with 18th-century French furniture, Sèvres porcelain and English portraits. The gardens come with a rococo aviary and a parterre that changes each year. The wine cellars are worth the detour on their own.

Golf has been played here since the 1400s, and the Old Course still runs right into the middle of town. You can stand on the Swilcan Bridge, look at the R&A clubhouse and walk the West Sands where the opening of Chariots of Fire was filmed. Actually playing the Old Course means the ballot, and a good deal of luck.

England's longest lake, at about ten and a half miles, seen without the crowds of the public launches. Wooded shores, a scatter of islands and the Langdale Pikes off to the north west.

A private licensed cab and a driver who has passed the Knowledge, which is the closest thing London has to a walking encyclopedia with wheels. You'll roll past Big Ben, St Paul's, and Tower Bridge with commentary and no jostling. Good in the rain, which is a real consideration here.

Edinburgh's spine runs downhill from the castle to Holyroodhouse, and it is (almost exactly) an old Scots mile. The pleasure is in the closes and wynds shooting off either side, dark and steep and largely ignored by the crowds. Duck down a few.

The market town on the Avon where he was born, retired and was buried, all within about a mile. You can visit the Henley Street birthplace, Anne Hathaway's thatched cottage in Shottery and his grave in Holy Trinity Church. The Royal Shakespeare Company performs a few steps from the river.