Plenty of old things to see, including Stonehenge, Avebury, Silbury and the whole slew of stuff our ancestors busied themselves with on Sailsbury Plain. There's Sailsbury itself which is a lovely cathedral city, as is Winchester, ancient capital of England just down the motorway from the Smoke. Beyond lies Glastonbury (stay at the George and Pilgrims on the High Street and ask for one of the Monk's cells), Bath, Cheddar and some wonderful countryside. You could combine many of the above in one three-day trip.

Canterbury is supposed to be excellent, although I've never been it's on my list. Kent is lovely.

The south coast is an good choice and if you have three days you could get out to places like Lyme Regis in Dorset, Chesil Beach and other towns along the Dorset and Hampshire Coast.

Heading north there's Cambridge (never been) and the wilds of East Anglia.

As for football, you'll get a game anywhere but a Premier League match is always worth seeing, however don't discount the Championship matches- check on the BBC sports site for extensive coverage. An alternative is to head up the motorway to the second city, Birmingham, and go and watch the mighty Aston Villa at Villa park.

One hint - get in as many pubs as possible; they're still the mainstay of social life on our islands and you'll get good food, cheap lodgings and (most importantly) good beer and company in many of them. Buy a pub guide and study it when planning your trip; it's still possible to drink in taverns that have existed for many hundreds of years, and some are still quite unchanged and represent the waxing and waning styles of the centuries.