Southern England holiday, suggestions

Some of the villages in the Sussex countryside surrounding Brighton where I live are very pretty.  Rottingdean is short bus ride, Steyning and Henfield and Ditchling are a little further out but are well worth a visit.  I do not know Hampshire that well but I'm sure there are some equally very nice villages surrounding Portsmouth. Hope you have a great visit Crackie.

If you are heading down to the Southwest and are interested in military history there is the tank musuem at Bovington and the Fleet Air Arm museum at Yeovilton.

The D Day museum is also in Portsmouth, as well as being able to do boat trips round the harbour. A trip up the Spinnaker Tower is also well worth it. If you want real pubs in real places pop over to Emsworth, which is about 20 minutes from Portsmouth on the train. It's very pretty, being on Chichester Harbour, but also non touristy, which is always good. A little further East is Chichester, which is very nice and a place visitors always like. The Cathedral has a very good Chagall window and loads of history of course. 

Salisbury, where Naim are of course, is a lovely small city and the area around the Cathedral, and the water meadows, are great. If you can arrange a tour that will take a day and you can easily spend a day exploring the city. 

Cheers forum friends, I appreciate the advice. Will have to google some of the suggested places, never seen them pop up on Tripadvisor or similar web sites (no surprise there). 

Any suggested websites to book village bed & breakfast around these areas ? Also I know from my brief London experience that rail travel is very expensive, is bus or an organised coach tour the way to go once outside London, as I like a pint or 2, I don't want to consider a hire car. 

We have in the past used a book called The Little Green Book, for village type Bed and Breakfast.

Various different places a little off the  main places, we have enjoyed what we found.

PDF version available.

http://www.thelittlegreenbook.co.uk/

Worth a look.

crackie posted:

Cheers forum friends, I appreciate the advice. Will have to google some of the suggested places, never seen them pop up on Tripadvisor or similar web sites (no surprise there). 

Any suggested websites to book village bed & breakfast around these areas ? Also I know from my brief London experience that rail travel is very expensive, is bus or an organised coach tour the way to go once outside London, as I like a pint or 2, I don't want to consider a hire car. 

Crackie,

if you contact the factory to arrange a visit then Steven Hopkins can provide you with some B&B or Hotel suggestions. If you have a car, you might like to stay not far from Salisbury, somewhere like Stockbridge or maybe Shaftesbury.  The latter is in North Dorset, a county that should be able to provide exactly what you're looking for - just stay away from the bigger towns and cities near the coast, although in December the tourist crowds at the usual spots (Corfe Castle etc..) should be much fewer than during high season.

As well as Hungry Hallibut's suggestions, with which I would agree, if you are visiting Portsmouth you might also want to think about the artillery museum based in Fort Nelson. This is based in an old Napoleonic fort overlooking the city from the North.  You can explore the many tunnels in the old fort and the exhibits range from the very old to the modern. The views from the fort are well worth a photo or two.  

If you have some extra days free, as well as the options to the East of the city like Chichester and Emsworth, travelling West there's the lovely area around Swanage in Dorset and the ancient Corfe castle.  There's even a preserved steam railway line which links the two, all of which I can heartily recommend.  

also visit Winchester, very old town with a very traditional high street.

In Chichester there is The Pallant House Gallery - recent English art. well worth a visit.

You might also catch and interesting show at Chichester Festival Theatre. See the traditional English folk relaxing and sometimes braying.

Don't forget Kent, the Garden of England, and the place from whence come the world's best hops and cherries. Among the places worth visiting are the seaside towns like Broadstairs (esp if you like Dickens), Whitstable, Sandwich and Dover (for the castle and Churchill's wartime tunnels); the old Royal Naval Dockyards at Chatham are well worth a visit if you like military history.

If you're fond of beer, a visit to Faversham and the Shepherd Neame Brewery is worthwhile. SN is the UK's oldest brewery, having been in business for at least 219 years (although brewing has gone on at the site for about 450 years).

The spa town of Royal Tunbridge Wells is worth a mooch round if you like Regency stuff; Tonbridge has a Norman castle on the banks of the Medway and nearby Tudely has a church with some very famous Marc Chagall stained glass windows.

If you're in the Portsmouth area then I would suggest getting the ferry to The Isle Of Wight for your last few days.

Excellent countryside, not too touristy (mostly) and some excellent pubs. Get a bus/train rover ticket and you can drink your way round the island during the day

steve

The Island in December? I'm not sure that's a good idea. 

crackie posted:

Looking at ideas from the forum members please. I plan on having a 7 day visit by myself to the UK in December this year whist my family visit relatives in Madeira, Portugal. 

Have been to London 3 years ago only for a short 4 day stop  over, however I did see a number of places such as the Tower, Natural History Museum, Churchill War rooms, and a few general bus tours of central London / Westminster /  Buckingham Palace to see changing of the guard. I would like to spend another 2-3 days seeing the British Museum, the MCC tour of Lords and the Imperial War Museum. Love history especially military history, so I want to go to Portsmouth and do the HMS Victory / Mary Rose tours. Any suggestions on how to fill the last 3-4 days ? Was looking at Portsmouth >Salisbury / Stonehenge & perhaps squeeze in the Naim Factory Tour (if it is not shut down in Dec.). Then Bath / The Cotswolds - which takes in a massive area.

I desperatly want to also get to see the real England,  away from the usual high volume tourist spots, the quite English village and pub type experience over a pint or 10 is my thing after the must do Museums of London / Portsmouth.

Sugestions appreciated, especially if I have to cull a few tours to squeeze it in. 

If you really want to see the real England away from the usual high volume of tourist spots go to Porthallow a coastal village in Cornwall with stunning views and a cosy pub called The Five Pilchards.  You need to be commited by hiring out a car, the roads are really country roads ( a bit of an adventure if first time but you will understand this is a good thing as it sorts out the pleby common tourists from the seekers of peace, atmosphere and tranquility.)  There is an excellent guesthouse called the Gallen - Treath very reasonable, cosy and great breakfasts and you can dine at the Pub (great food).  Atmosphere at the pub, very busy with a lot of locals and stunning cliff top walks  and country walks.

'Sorts out the pleby (sic) common tourists'... From the snobs? Sounds like a place to avoid like the plague. 

You mention Stonehenge, but also wish to get away from the crowds. Those two objectives don't sit together too well. Consequently, I would recommend instead a visit to Avebury, also in Wiltshire and approximately 25 miles east of Bath. Here you'll find two concentric stone circles and an avenue of stones leading to the Sanctuary. The great thing about Avebury is that you can walk among and touch the stones. This is not permitted at Stonehenge. Whilst there you can also visit Silbury Hill (a man made hill, thought also to be from Neolithic times), which is less than two miles away, and West Kennett Long Barrow, a Neolithic burial chamber, which you can walk inside and get totally spooked out. It's all free too.

Hungryhalibut posted:

The Island in December? I'm not sure that's a good idea. 

I'm not sure touring anywhere in UK is a good idea in December.  However looking positively,  I advise to focus on planning for mostly indoor places such as museums, churches & stately homes & play the outside card if the weather allows it.    

Hungryhalibut posted:

'Sorts out the pleby (sic) common tourists'... From the snobs? Sounds like a place to avoid like the plague. 

Excellent more peace and tranquility..!

If you can avoid Southampton, then it's all good.  

TOBYJUG posted:

If you can avoid Southampton, then it's all good.  

As a Pompey fan, that's the sort of advice that I'm meant to give! But I wouldn't want to upset Christopher M  

Portsmouth and Southampton complement each other. 

Portsmouth has a lot of history, Southampton has a football team...........

Let's compare trophies.

Mike-B posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

The Island in December? I'm not sure that's a good idea. 

I'm not sure touring anywhere in UK is a good idea in December.  However looking positively,  I advise to focus on planning for mostly indoor places such as museums, churches & stately homes & play the outside card if the weather allows it.    

So is it true that if the sun don't come you get a tan from standing in the English rain?

joerand posted:

So is it true that if the sun don't come you get a tan from standing in the English rain?

No Joe,  the brown staining is called rust.    And even on a good day in December, sun is a bit ......  err     lets say it tries to make an appearance in the south of UK just after 8am & disappears before 4pm.  

Crackie, If it's fine on your Portsmouth day, well worth a trip to the top of Portsdown Hill to look down on Portsmouth Harbour, the home of the Royal Navy, and the Isle of Wight beyond. (IoW lovely, but not usually in Dec. Southsea, the same). You will see Portchester Castle too also worth a visit for a Roman perspective.

Southampton has SolentSky aviation museum where you can get a grasp of the city's Spitfire connection, and flying boats, Sea Vixens etc

Fairly nearby is Buckler's Hard where a significant proportion of Nelson's navy was built including Agamemnon. It's not hard to imagine ships being built there and I'm told the museum is good. As is the Master Builder's House pub/ hotel.

Winchester has the cathedral, the longest continually used thoroughfare in Britain (High St) and, for you, the Royal Green Jackets Museum.

You'll need refreshment, and good local ales at around 4% are widely available. I would always choose them over London or Cornish usurpers.

Have a great trip. Chris

Linguistic note: There is an 'H' in Hampshire. You will never hear it.

C.

Further suggestions/endorsements that you might like to consider:-

Middle Wallop - Museum of Army Aviation. Hands-on helicopters and light Army aeroplanes.

Avebury, Silbury Hill, West Kennet Long Barrow.....as described above (I'll post a picture later)

Chedworth - Roman Villa and mosaic floor

Bourton-on-the-Water.....picturesque Cotswold village