Base yourself somewhere just outside London, but with easy access to central London by train (say 40 mins), Heathrow airport (30 mins), the main motorways out of and around London (15 mins from M1, M25 and M40 - 25 mins from M4). Not too far from either Warwick Castle (1 hr) or Windsor Castle (50 mins). And somewhere with a spare car (automatic) for you to borrow. Also, somewhere where they can feed you well enough to put some lard onto your bones. And somewhere where your songwriting and singing will be nurtured, with contacts for 3-4 local folk clubs. And sod Europe - do Paris on the train for 3 days and leave it at that.

Hey - I know such a place! It's called Chesham. Why don't you ask Mike C? He'll confirm it.