This is a possible itinerary for covering the main periods of English history in day trips in five or six years, heavily based around living history and direct physical experiences wherever possible.

 

Disclaimers:

There are many even better locations which do not feature on this itinerary (e.g.: Skara Brae for the Stone Age) because they were more impractical for my own logistics than others that made the cut - your situation will differ.

The constraint of attending the major living history events in the correct order makes the pacing of Year Two a little slow compared to the other years, as Anglo-Saxons has to be fitted into the end of the year before to allow the Viking festival in February.

 

Itinerary:

Year One - Prehistory (Ice Age to Romans)

     February - The Ice Age (West Midlands Safari Park)

     March - The Ice Age/Old Stone Age (Cresswell Crags)

     March - The Middle Stone Age (University of Cambridge Museums)

     April - The New Stone Age/Bronze Age (Stonehenge/Avebury area)

     May - The Bronze Age (Flag Fen)

    June - The Iron Age (Butser Ancient Farm)

    July/August - The Romans (St. Albans area) (Hadrian's Wall area)

    October - Recap and Anglo-Saxons (British Museum inc Sutton Hoo treasure) (West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village)

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Year Two - The First Thousand Years AD (Anglo-Saxons to Anarchy)

     February - Vikings (Yorvik Viking Festival)

     October - Normans (Battle of Hastings) (Lincoln area)

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Year Three - The Middle Ages (Plantagenets to Tudors)

 

 

Year Four - The Making of the Modern Age (Stuarts, Georgians & Victorians)

 

 

Year Five - The Twentieth Century

 

English Heritage:

Quite a few of the featured sites are managed by English Heritage, and of course there are also many other English Heritage properties which are not on the list but would also be interesting and fun to visit. As one adult with one child I we wouldn't make a saving by buying English Heritage membership just to carry out this itinerary, but if you have two or more adults trying it or you want to visit other sites as well you might want to seriously consider buying a family membership in some years.