I need help. I am planning a 10 day to two week trip to England with my wife this summer. So far, my plan is to spend 3 or 4 days in london, then go to hampshire and stay at the four seasons for some chilling out, i.e. horseback riding, spa, maybe a little fishing. After that I was planning on going to Winchester and Salisbury, Stonehenge, Avebury stone circle, Bath, the Cotswolds, Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Cambridge. My guess this is too many places to go in 10 days. But for sure I want to do London and then the four seasons in hampshire. So whoever helps me out, those two places are a definite and you cant change my mind. I just need help on how to strategize my trip after I stay at the Four Seasons.
Posts: 49 | Location: Louisiana | Registered: 28 February 2006
Hello, The 4 Seasons in Dogmersfield in Hampshire quite local to where I work so I have been there several times to use the wonderful spa and to dine. It is a delightful place to do exactly what you are hoping for.
From there I would aim for Bath maybe via either Stonehenge or Avebury but after a long day at work I am unable to think about the best route but I will be happy to offer further help if nobody else jumps in before I can next visit ST. Certainly Salisbury would be easy to add to your itinerary but personally I wouldn't aim for more than 2 bases in a trip of 10 days. Wendy
Posts: 2747 | Location: Lightwater Surrey U K | Registered: 30 March 2003
Well I wouldn't ever suggest anyone skip London so I'm fully behind that part of your trip. If anything I'd say 3 or 4 days may be too short, but it will depend on how well prepared you are. Keep what you want to see pared down to a sensible level and 3 or 4 days will give you a good taste of the place.
As for the rest of your trip, I agree with Wendy. Bath would be good, with all the other places following along a line between London and Bath. I would therefore drop Stratford and Cambridge on this trip.
Beebee
Posts: 1955 | Location: London, UK | Registered: 09 September 2002
I agree that all those places are too much to do in your summer trip. Depending on if you were there 10 or 14 days and how many days you were planning on spending at the Four Seasons I would say you could probably fit Bath, Avebury, Salisbury, Stonehenge, and maybe Winchester into your trip. But that would be stretching it and only spending the minimal amount of time at each place.
Personally I'd recommend that you save your four days in London for the end of your trip. I always find it easier to get to Heathrow from London than from outside of London. That's just my personal preference and something I throw out as a consideration. And if you did that you could go to the Four Seasons upon your arrival in England and fit the other places in between.
I appreciate you guys information. Ok, so we would spend four days in london at the end of our trip. Now, how should we divide our time outside of London. 1 day in bath, 2 days, in Avebury, etc. I am still confused on that.
Posts: 49 | Location: Louisiana | Registered: 28 February 2006
If your trip is 10 - 12 nights, I would pick a maximum of three places to stay - 3 - 4 nights each. London is one of those places and so is the Four Seasons in Hampshire. So that leaves just one other place. I would choose either Bath or somewhere in the Cotswolds.
I assume you are going to be renting a car? Otherwise, my recommendations would be different.
Your first place and last place should be either London or Hampshire - since both have easy access to the airport for arrival and departure.
Use www.viamichelin.com to determine driving times between places and for day trips.
On arrival you could go straight to the Four Seasons in Hampshire. This is close to the airport, so you could either get a car service or pickup your rental car and do the short drive. Use this as a base to see Winchester, Salisbury and Stonehenge. Winchester is close, south on the M3. Salisbury is just west of Winchester. And Stonehenge is north of Salisbury. For a full day trip, you could do a loop to Wincester, Salisbury then Stonehenge. Or do Wincester one day and Salisbury/Stonehenge on another.
If you are a Jane Austen fan, you are not far from the museum (where she lived) in Chawton, near Alton. Read more - Finding Jane Austen.
Then drive from Hampshire to Bath or the Cotswolds. Stop at Avebury on the way. Avebury is a wonderful place.
Spend 3 - 4 nights in either Bath or the Cotswolds. I would probably vote for somewhere in the Cotswolds, but I am a huge Cotswolds fan. You could even rent a cottage (vacation rental) for 4 nights. You could base yourself in Stow on the Wold or Chipping Campden - these are small towns with several restaurants and pubs. Do a day trip from there to Bath (one hour drive each way).
If you are Stone Circle fan, don't forget the Rollright Stones in the Cotswolds. I have a few Stone Circle Photos. Rollright Stones are up near Chipping Norton.
If you are more interested in Bath than the Cotswolds, stay in Bath and do a day trip to the Cotswolds. Bath is just south of the Cotswolds. Read more - Bath Practical Tips
End with 4 nights in London. You could drop the rental car off at Heathrow, then take the Heathrow Express into London.
Or you could do the reverse. Since Hampshire is close to Heathrow, spend your last nights there and drive to the airport the day of your flight.
I would make a base in Bath, and then do daytrips from there. Bath is packed with things to do, especially if you're an enthusiast of the Georgian period. I enjoyed many of the smaller, more specialist museums during my stay in Bath last year. I was there for five days and kept myself very busy. PLUS the new spa is open. Book well in advance (my best friend had to book a few months in advance) to swim in the famous hot springs and indulge in some beauty therapies.
There are quite a few tour companies that do tours from Bath to Stonehenge, Avebury, Oxford, the Cotswolds etc. They pack a lot into a day, but unless you have a particular reason to spend a lot of time in once place they're the way to go. You get to see the highlights then move on.
You could also stay in London an extra day, and do a daytrip to Cambridge from there. It's only 45mins from Kings Cross Station on a direct train. If you must visit it, in a day you can see the best colleges, have a walk along the Backs or to Grantchester, gorge on a Chelsea bun from Fitzbillies and attend evensong at Kings or Johns, and be back in London by 9pm.
How many days are you planning on staying at the Four Seasons? Are you renting a car and having it between the Four Seasons and London?
Based on their locations I would say a logical order for your trip would be - Four Seasons, Winchester, Salisbury-Stonehenge, Bath-Avebury, and then London. You could return your car in Bath and then take the train from Bath to London.
I haven't been to Winchester yet so I can't comment but I would imagine you'd want a full day there at least.
Salisbury...well you could cover the essentials in town in a full day. Two days would probably be better. You could do a 1/2 day out from Salisbury to Stonehenge. You don't need a full day for Stonehenge.
I would say you'd want two days in Bath. Of course, it would be easy to spend more there as well.
Avebury, like Stonehenge, doesn't need a full day although the stones are more spread out if I remember correctly. It takes about an hour to drive to Avebury from Bath, however. So it could be a partial day trip out from Bath.
If you want some idea of how long it will take you to drive between places a good map to use is Multimap at http://www.multimap.com/ I have found the times they give for driving distances pretty accurate.
Yes, 10 days definitely not enough time for ALL of those places. Certainly better to do fewer and have more quality time in each. Spending a few days on London, yes - makes sense as so much going on there. 3 days about right for London. The form of transport you are using really makes a HUGE difference to your whole schedule!!! If you are travellign aroudn by car hire then you could easily do Stonehenge and pop by Bath etc in one day but if by public transport you'll manage only half as much. Considering you said SUMMER time, then basically I would strongly recommend 3 days or so in Devon or Cornwall. I would leave the Hampshire Four Seasons and go south for what is more liekly better weather.
