My daughter and I will be in Salisbury in July for three days after spending 3 days in London and we have 4 days left before we return to the US. Any recommended places of interest overnight trips in that southern area before we return to London . my daughter is 12
Also we will be traveling by train and if you have any B&B recommendations or perhaps a castle to stay in LOL I'd be very interested!

thanks for your input
Changed title for future searches - marta

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Marta,

Have you seen our travel notes on our main Slow Travel website? We have a page on visiting Salisbury. It includes several ideas for short day trips. One fun thing especially for a 12 year old girl would be to do a Jane Austen focused trip.

A longer trip might be Bath.

We were in England for Christmas of 2007 with our 8 and 10 year olds. They loved going to Portsmouth and seeing the navy base. They have some famous sailing ships that you can tour (including Nelson's Victory.) We stayed in the New Forest area which the kids also enjoyed because of the wild ponies that live there. We didn't make it to the Isle of Wight (way too cold in December) but I would think that would be an enjoyable stop as well.

Stonehenge is about 12 miles north of Salisbury and must rank as one of the most important prehistoric sites in the world.

Wilton House is on the western outskirts of Salisbury and there is a regular bus service. Visit the house for a glimpse of gracious living and then explore the grounds.

Winchester is a delightful town with a beautiful old cathedral. We went on a guided tour of the crypt and Daughter who was about 10 at the time loved the stories told by the guide. Tours depend on whether the crypt is flooded - and that is part of the story...

We also like Shaftesbury. The official website is boring and doesn't do it justice. This one when it is up and running may be better. Otherwise do a google image search to get an idea what the town is like. Gold Hill is a real step back into the past.

For something completely different, there is also the New Forest just to the south and you could do a day tour of this. You can also use this bus to visit Beaulieu and the National Motor Museum.

The website for the local bus company is here.

Eleanor