Avebury, HMS Belfast and Glyndebourne show the diversity of English attractions

The plunging pound may be killing my holiday spending power, but it's drawing foreign tourists to British shores like bees to a spring orchard. We've seen more American guests this summer than the total for several previous years. Before each arrives, I ask them about sightseeing preferences. The variety of answers illustrates why England has such broad appeal.

Culture vultures are ecstatic at the density of museums, theatres and galleries. The history nerds head to castles, country houses and re-enactments. Americans are particularly keen on Downton Abbey and royals, and there's still a surprising amount of Diana-themed tourism. Fashionistas, foodies, landscape painters, hikers, surfers and music lovers can all easily craft itineraries focused on their specific interests.

A surge in my own sightseeing levels over the past fortnight drove this point home. Three destinations with three different companions. All radically different. All wonderful.

AVEBURY: For the new age spiritualist and the countryside lover
More than 1.5 million people flock to Stonehenge every year. It's one of those Top 10 "must sees" that a lot of foreign visitors feel they need to check off their list to claim that they've "done" England. Yes, it's impressive. And a much better experience these days thanks to the 2013 addition of museum and visitors' centre. But it's also one of the most expensive tourist attractions in England (£19 for an adult entry), packed with jostling hoards of bus tours, and you can only stand at a distance and gaze respectfully at the stones. Venture 24 miles further northwest and you'll be in the middle of the world's largest megalithic stone circle, without a group tour in sight. At Avebury you can actually touch the stones, see much more of the original monumental landscape and have a charming old-world village thrown in as a bonus.

And you don't even have to give up Stonehenge to visit. Though there's always talk of running the road through a tunnel, for now the A303 passes within a few hundred metres of the more famous henge, giving passengers a chance to have a good look from the roadside without paying for admission. (There's no stopping on this stretch of road, but there's inevitably traffic that slows things down.) The additional half hour's drive takes you through some striking landscapes. Dramatic, broad sweeps of Salisbury Plain's vast rolling fields alternate with small wooded valleys and charming villages with a tourist-pleasing percentage of thatch. You might even see a tank: besides being a picturesque landscape, the army uses much of it as a practice range. Look carefully as you pass through and you'll realise many hills and ditches are too regular in shape to be natural; Stonehenge was just one monument in a massive complex of henges, tombs and ceremonial sites that spread across this area between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago. (Roughly the same time as the great pyramids were built and people were making legends in Troy.)

Avebury has three stone circles: the gigantic outer one that's more than 1000 metres around and 347 across, once made up of almost 100 massive blocks, and two circles sitting side-by-side within. All of this was surrounded by a deep ditch with a high bank on the outer side, and a single ceremonial avenue cutting through it into the main circle. You can make out most of this today, though at least half the stones are gone and there's a village tucked into half the circle. The remaining stones stand like ancient, petrified giants, twisted by eons of weather into fantastic shapes. Touch them, stand beside them in communion, picnic in their shadow; there's no one to stop you here. In fact, there may well be more sheep in the fields in which you're standing than fellow tourists. The views from the top of the encircling mound are fantastic and the walk around the half of the circle standing in splendid isolation is one of the best in England. You can even bring your dogs.

The village itself sits in the other half of the circle, perhaps most distinctive for its handful of "New Age" shops. Avebury, even more than Stonehenge, is the emotional home of modern paganism and those who seek to connect with an earthy spirituality. If you're in to wicca, crystals, animism, Tarot or anything along those lines, the small shops here are a treasure trove. The less spiritually inclined can enjoy The Red Lion, the kind of thatched, traditional pub that's everyone's fantasy of ye olde England. Nearby Avebury Manor is one of the most unique houses in the National Trust's care. An exquisitely mellow 16th century stone pile on the outside, its interiors weren't significant so the NT offered it up for a posh reality show in 2011 where academics and designers re-created rooms in five different historic styles. Thus you can sit on chairs, touch stuff and have a play at being lord of the manor.

There's no charge to wander the stones, but you'll need to pay for the car park. It's £5.60 for admission to the small museum and £12.30 for the manor; all free for NT members.

HMS BELFAST: For the WWII and nautical history buff
She's been moored on the South side of the Thames, just upriver from Tower Bridge, since 1971 and draws about a quarter million visitors a year. The Royal Navy cruiser has been preserved much as she was when in service, and makes a fascinating counterpoint to anyone who's scrambled around HMS Victory in Portsmouth. Though the technology is vastly different and they're separated by 200 years, there are striking similarities in their layout and the way they functioned.

Belfast shares a name with the city where she was built, in the famous Harland and Wolff yards that also turned out the Titanic. She launched in 1938, just in time for the WWII North Sea service that made her famous, later transferring to Asia and playing a big role in the Korean War before being decommissioned in the 1960s. The way she spans eras of technology makes her particularly interesting. Some of her "bones" are charmingly old-school, like the wooden main deck, the ship's bell and the elegant patterned weave of the sick bay's blankets. But the red-and-white checkered lino flooring throughout is pure 1950s, and her navigation and weapons technology was incredibly advanced for the '60s. (If you're at all interested in the history of communications technology the areas on display here are particularly fascinating.)

This is a magnificent venue to expend the energy of restless children and a no-go area for the disabled, since seeing the ship properly demands scrambling up and down at least a score of ladders. The highlights for me were the two bridges in the front of the ship (one for the captain of the Belfast herself, and another on the deck below from which the admiral of the fleet could command accompanying ships) and the gun experience aft, where you can climb into a gun turret to get a sense

of what working there in battle would have been like thanks to a dramatic film using interviews with real sailors, and some simple but dramatic effects like gun smoke and a rumbling deck beneath your feet. I was shocked to learn that the men working the guns had no sight of the outside world. More than 20 of them were essentially packed into a dark, heaving metal box, taking aiming and firing instructions from elsewhere in the ship. It must have been horrifying.

The Belfast's location means she also benefits from some of the best views in London, which she makes the most of with a cafe up top and lots of places to stroll, linger and look. Wandering amongst bristling guns makes for an odd pleasure garden, but that's what her decks can be on a sunny day.

Admission is £18 at the door (less when purchased online in advance) or free for Imperial War Museum members. That includes an audio guide. Or you can just wander and benefit from informative displays throughout.

GLYNDEBOURNE: For the gardener and opera aficionado
You'll need connections or deep pockets to get into this one. (I, thankfully, have the former.) Tucked into the rolling chalk downs above the Sussex Coast, Glyndebourne is the mother of the whole English Country House opera tradition. Given our regular involvement with Longborough (most recently covered here) I was fascinated to take a peak into these sacred grounds on a members' open garden day.

The lovely manor at the centre of things looks venerable, but is actually a "Jacobethan" shell built around an older house and its additions early in the 20th century. The open day included access into "the organ room" where Glyndebourne's love affair with opera started. Its enormous windows, wood paneling and blue-and-white ceiling make it a treat to get inside.

Owner and music lover John Christie built this barrel-vaulted, 80-foot long room to house one of the largest organs in the country outside of a cathedral, then started hosting opera evenings here.  Originally amateur affairs with friends, he decided to get more sophisticated by hiring a professional troupe, then fell in love with and married the soprano. Eventually a purpose-built theatre sprang up next door to show off her talents. That original was replaced by a 1,200-seat, four-level, horseshoe-shaped auditorium in 1994 with state-of-the-art acoustics and all the backstage sophistication needed for what, by then, had become one of the country's leading opera companies. This space was open as well, allowing us to appreciate the light wood paneling in thin, vertical strips which is both dramatic and elegant and, I suspect, great for sound quality.

The real purpose of this day, however, was what lay outside. Glyndebourne is surrounded by glorious gardens that are now famous as a venue for posh pre-operatic picnicking. Given the age of the house, it's no surprise to find lush, romantic borders of mixed perennials in a style similar to contemporaries at Sissinghurst and Hidcote. There's an aromatic rose garden that spins around a fountain memorable for a bronze of one of the founder's pugs taking a nap. Broad lawns sweep down from the house to a ha ha, that marvelous English invention of a sunken wall and ditch that keeps sheep off the lawns, beyond which the woolly flock grazes in pastoral scenery. Elsewhere there's a long reflecting pool dotted with lilies and a productive bit of the grounds with greenhouses, orchards and vegetable beds maintained with Chelsea Flower Show-worthy precision.

There's plenty of modernity and innovation here as well. The grounds are dotted with sculpture, the most striking pieces made of rusted iron sheets of  geometric shapes that contrast beautifully with the greens and blues in which they're set. The most surprising bit of the garden is a bit wedged into a slope between the old, formal gardens and the opera house. Part jungle, part fernery, it has an enchanted "secret garden" feel about it that makes it feel like something very alien and exotic has been hidden in the landscape. A bit like the opera itself...

Glyndebourne isn't open to the general public but it's a great reminder of the stunning gardens found throughout Sussex. Check out Great Dixter, Hever Castle or Parham House for some gardens with equal appeal in the same area.

Completed Mary Rose Museum is one of England's best

I've written about the Mary Rose museum here before, but that was back with it was still unfinished.

Today, after a 35-year effort, all the scaffolding has been pulled away from the remains of the historic shipwreck's frame. Her restoration, and the amazing museum around her, are officially complete. Here are three reasons why this is possibly the finest museum in England today.

Spectacular design. The modern pavilion encircling the ship is beautiful on the outside and jaw-dropping within. The starboard half of the Mary Rose that's been preserved now stands upright with little visible support, as if she's a ghost ship under full sail. The spectral illusion continues as the lights come up and down, the sound of the sea washes over you from hidden speakers and clever three-dimensional film projections sometimes make it appear that people are going about their daily business within the wreck. The museum is arranged in "decks" that match the ship; you wander the port side examining objects where they would have been back in 1545. Now that the glass screens between the halves have been removed and the Mary Rose stands proudly, the illusion is complete. It's a magical space.

A compelling story. Curators have used the skeletons of a small group of crew members (including the dog) to understand what life was like on board. They then take us along a carefully considered path, getting to know these men as we look at their belongings, their skeletons, films about their lives and ultimately wax work recreations of what they would have looked like. It's bold, haunting, and connects with your gut in a way few museums are able to do. These were real people, caught up in a tragedy. You live through it with them.

Hands-on fun. The museum uses both technology and more traditional tricks to make your visit so much more than wandering around and looking at stuff. There are plenty of computer screens to let you dig deeper into information. Many of them are set up as games. From lining up cannon properly to disable your enemy to deciding what provisions to buy and how to pack your hold, the kid-friendly challenges are both fun, and teach valuable lessons about life on board. My favourite bit remains the weapons section, where you can lift models of pikes and halberds to get a sense of their weight, and try your best to draw back longbows. There are other copies of artifacts throughout to handle, and at the end there's a dressing-up area where kids can get into Tudor costume.

If all museums were like this, we'd have no problem getting children of all ages through the doors. Knowledge of history would skyrocket. There's nothing like entertainment to teach a lesson painlessly, and to deliver a life-long love of culture.

The Mary Rose is part of the Portsmouth Historic Dockyards complex. You can buy a ticket for it as an individual attraction (adults £18), or for another tenner get a ticket that includes many other naval-themed attractions, like the HMS Warrior, HMS Victory and a boat ride around the harbour to check out the naval ships currently in service. Tickets are good for re-admission over a full year, which is a good thing since you'll want to spend time looking around. Allow at least two hours to get the most out of the Mary Rose.