Mon Jun 14, 2021 11:46 am
#1852760
From where you are, I'd go castle hunting. Head south for Knole, Sissinghurst, Bodiam, Scotney and Hever and, if you want a slightly longer trip, add Beachy Head and the Seven Sisters. (Edit: as well as Penshurst Place, Leeds, Herstmonceaux... there's so many!)
Give the passengers something to look for but make sure you've done the trip before so you see it first and can help them find it...
I always find that following the coast tends to get people more interested than cross-country. So Welshpool is nice but getting there is a not so interesting.
Compton Abbas should be on your list - down to the coast, follow it, get a clearance through Bournemouth (When it's busy I've found passengers quite like to hear the big boys on frequency and hearing them being told about you ('traffic is a ...')) and then the short hop up to CA. CA is good because it's a pretty setting and there's always something happening, whether joyrides, aeros or just arrivals and departures. It makes the whole flying scene seem cool which rubs off on you.
Similar logic applies for a trip to Duxford. Not as pretty a flight but it's a place which makes aviation (quite rightly so!) look cool. And then to Old Warden if they liked Duxford. Less 'shock and awe' but more quintessentially 'magnificent'.
Since they've already been up, you should also include them in the planning. They will have an opinion and would probably appreciated it being listened to. However, just like a car journey ("Are we nearly there yet"), with the best will in the world, you will be unlikely to please all of them all the time, so don't expect that or feel you've failed if some trips are not the best ever...
Even for us (or me, at least), my favorite beach is at Pembrey, but it's still an hour and a half away and the trek across Wiltshire and Somerset is not always that inspirational - and sometimes I just want to 'get on with it' even though I'm enjoying every flight ...
We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon.