HEYYY!! Less of the England bashing please.
Firstly - Doug you've not had much luck on your previous trips to England, so I suggest you give it a proper chance - I live near London - guided tour available if you hit school hols or weekend - just giv me a holler.
For those not aware, Gatwick Airport is 30 miles south of central London, and almost halfway to the seaside town of Brighton. There is an express rail link to central London that takes less than 30 mins. Crawley is the nearest small town to the airport. It is mainly a residential town with a small shopping precinct for local people, majority of inhabitants work locally, at the airport, or commute to central London.
I notice DAL will switch its London operation to LHR(Heathrow) on the summer timetable.
Also Manchester (england's 2nd city and my childhood home) is well worth a visit.
Of course if you visit England in the winter it will be dreary, and overcast. We've not had much of a winter though, ie very little snow except in the mountains, and virtually no freezing temperatures. However fog the past 3 days, makes it fun getting to work in the morning. In the summer for the past coupla years we've hit 30C (not sure what that is in Farenheit) for a number of weeks (though which weeks it'll be is anyone's guess!) Of course very few properties in the UK have decent air con. so it does get a bit unconfortable in that heat!
Anyway, the point is London is a vibrant, culturally diverse city, and well worth a proper visit - without the oversleeping!