barminski

I would like feedback on this trip itinerary. Do not have airline tickets yet so can make changes.
My husband would like to cut off 1-2 days from this itinerary but not a must. Would like feedback if we are giving too much time in one area for it is our 1st time in England. We are from the USA and have never driven on left side of road. We love the countryside and my husband's passion is photography.We are also avid hikers. We have 17 land days in England. Our trip is scheduled for Sept. 8-24.
Day 1-3 Arrive Heathrow early a.m. on 9/8, spend the next 3 days in London (enjoy museums)
Day 4 Rent a car at Heathrow and drive to Seaford, spend 2 days there.
Day 6 Drive 62 miles to Petersfield in South Down National Park, spend the night .
Day 7 Drive Petersfield to Salisbury see the cathedral. Stay overnight.
Day 8 (Friday) Drive to Bath and spend the day, then drive on to Marlborough and stay the night.
I am trying to avoid Bath on the weekend for I hear it is crowded.
Day 9 Stay in Marlborough, hike, see the ancient rocks similar to Stonehenge.
Day 10 Drive to Hereford, explore countryside. stay the night
Day 11 Drive to Ludlow see the castle, stay the night
Day 12 - Head for the Cotswolds and stay in a cottage 5 nights
Day 17 - Leave for London, visit Windsor Castle
Day 18 - Leave for home
If you see where I can eliminate some days feel free to give advice or maybe add on days to South Downs National Park and cut off days at Cotswolds. We enjoy nature and being outdoors if that helps. Putting this trip together is a challenge for me! My husband
does not want to be gone this long so if you think there are areas I could cut out feel free to say.
Thank you so much for your input.

janisj

There is a lot of to-ing and fro-ing going on here - almost a double L.


I would switch things around a little - but still hit all the same places. (and there is no need to stay in both Hereford and Ludlow -- they are less than 25 miles apart -- save the extra moving hotels)

Something like:

Day 1 arrive LHR pick up car (or not - can be done by bus or taxi) and head 7 miles to Windsor. Rest up that day and see the Castle/town.

Next day drive west on the M4 to Bath. Then up via Ross on Wye to Hereford/Ludlow. Then down into the Cotswolds > Avebury > Salisbury > the South Downs > Seaford/the south coast. THEN drop the car at LGW, take a train into London and spend the last several days there, fly home.

barminski

Thank you for the idea about combining Hereford and Ludlow. Now my husband only wants to be gone a total of 16 days including flying days so I need to cut 3 days. Any suggestions on where? I could do Cotswolds to 4 days and eliminate Hereford and Ludlow. Would we be missing out on some gorgeous countryside to cut Hereford and Ludlow? Sorry for the changes but doing an itinerary is hard work!

janisj

>> I could do Cotswolds to 4 days and eliminate Hereford and Ludlow.<<

That makes good sense.

>>Would we be missing out on some gorgeous countryside to cut Hereford and Ludlow? <<

That should never be in the calculation IME/IMO. No matter where you go you will miss a tremendous amount of gorgeous scenery. You'd need months (years really) to see most of the nicest bits. I prefer to fit a reasonable itinerary into limited time instead of trying to force in too much.

Enjoy what you have time to see and don't worry about what you might miss (you can always fit that into the next trip )

barminski

Janis, so true on what you said to come back again. Thank you.

barminski

One more thing about South Downs Park. If we drive from Seaford to Petersfield I see it is 62 miles. I looked up Map Quest for England and see 2 routes.
Which one is the most scenic, A27 through Brighton and Chichester or A27 to A23 (further north in park). Also wonder if that 62 miles is slow driving due to narrow roads. Trying to conceive in my mind if 62 miles will be an
all day drive or the 1 hr 25 min. that Map Quest says it can be done in. Our paved mountain roads in Rocky National Park in Colorado is slow going. The reason I ask this is to figure out if we stay 1 night Peterfield or 2 nights.
Thanks again for anyone's valuable advice.

janisj

>>the 1 hr 25 min. that Map Quest says it can be done in.<<

Never (ever) count on the on-line calculators. They are overly optimistic. You typically need to add 25% to nearly 100% to every drive time.

That 62 miles will easily take 2 hours and very likely longer.

Gordon_R

<I>Which one is the most scenic, A27 through Brighton and Chichester or A27 to A23 (further north in park). </I>
Neither. Take the A27 west only until you're past Brighton (the quicker you do this the better IMO), then head northwest on the A283 to Petworth before picking up the A272 which carries on westward through the centre of the SDNP to Petersfield. Great scenery and attractive small villages along the way, but not quick. Allow at least 2h as Janis stated.

I'm presuming you are already aware, but the set-up in the South Downs National Park is nothing like the NPs I've visited in the USA (e.g. Yosemite). While it contains some beautiful rolling hills (the eponymous "Downs") and some terrific walking / hiking routes, it is also a busy, residential area with a population of around 110 000 people going about their daily business of commuting, taking the kids to school, going to the shops etc...

You might also wonder where the "entrances" to the park are - in the 6 years since it achieved NP status, I've yet to notice even any signs by the side of the road announcing you've arrived in the park. To a casual visitor it's largely indistinguishable from any other pretty semi-rural part of the home counties. But the cachet of NP status hasn't done local house prices any harm .

barminski

Gordon,
Great information on time reference on driving, thanks.