Hi Lara,

greetings from the frozen wastes of south-west England - about a 30 minute drive north of Penzance to be precise.

not criticising at all, but with my knowledge of local driving conditions and the time it takes to get from one place to another [and what there is to see on the way] IMO you have time to do SOME of your proposed trip in 10 days, but not all of it, unless you want to spend a lot of time in the car AND to do a succession of "one night stands".

really you will have to decide whether this is an "east and south-east" trip, or a "south and south-west" trip.

if you decide to head west, my suggestion would be to start off in Windsor [well worth seeing if you like castles] and then proceed via Stonehenge to Salisbury, and spend the night there.

then head west, either to south Devon - Salcombe area, or to North Devon - Exmoor, Lyton and Lynmouth. after 3-4 nights there, up to Bath for a couple of nights, then into the cotswolds for a final 3-4 nights before you return to London.

if you want to go in the opposite direction, from London you could head south via Tunbridge Wells to Rye , up to Canterbury [do Dover as a day trip from here] then through the Dartmouth Tunnel to Suffolk, Cambridge, Sandringham [if you want to go that far]. and then back to London again.

hope this helps!

Similar thoughts to Annhig. Axminster is ok as a target but what I would do is use a tool like google maps to put the various things you want to do on it to get an idea of options and then look at google's driving time estimates (add 30% to be more accurate). This might show that other small towns could be a better start, (I might start at Salisbury say).

Your proposal is an interesting tour (goodness knows what anyone wants to go to SE England for but many people do), I would agree drop out Birmingham unless you are an industrial canal nut or have a thing for modern shopping centres. Kings Lynn is not worth a drive as described. Bournemouth (my home town) is not exactly famous for having a reason to visit (apart from a beach where "grockles" (midlanders) go to turn red and drink cheap beer or the chance to visit some of the most expensive land in the world).

What is worth a bit of time is the likes of Salisbury, the Dorset coast from Swanage through to Lulworth and the marketing name "Jurassic coast" actually hides a fantastic walk. From there you could drive up to Shaftesbury (again very pleasant) and Bath.

I recently visited Cornwall (with annhig's assistance) and apart from the roads being small and slow, there are some beautiful gardens. The Eden centre (4 hour visit minimum) is unique but very expensive (we visited using 2 for 1 deals which are a key tool for enjoying bits of the UK) and the Lost Gardens of Heligan http://www.heligan.com/ which took six hours to enjoy.

Sandringham is a late Victorian (English for ugly, charmless, draughty, comfortless, new and history-free) gentleman's country house of close to zero appeal to anyone except people in King's Lynn on a day out - and Royals escaping the attention of paparazzi too lazy to drive that far. Its one possible interest, for a certain kind of gossip column addict, is that it's the homeliest of the royal residences, and the only one where paying visitors get any sense at all of what their normal life is like.

Sort of like sneaking a look at the bit of the house your posh neighbour doesn't want you to see at her annual Xmas party - except that Sandringham's been ruthlessly art directed to ensure you don't see anything anyone wants you not to.

King's Lynn actually has quite a charming and interesting historical core, that's interesting on the endless drive from SW England to East Anglia - for at most 90 minutes.

If you want to see Cambridge, adjust your SW trip to include Oxford, pretend they're all punting from the wrong end and you'll never notice the difference.

Don't get me wrong: there's lots to see in North Norfolk (like Brancaster, Wood Henge and Holkham Beach). If you're staying there anyway, and the alternative is an afternoon at Sandringham.

Parts of Suffolk (Constable country) are as lovely as anywhere in England. But I really can't imagine crossing the Atlantic, or driving across England (which really, really, really takes longer) for it.

I live quite close to Southampton and can think of very few reasons to visit. There are some decent enough places in the vicinity, but the city itself is nothing to write home about. I tend to recommend Winchester as it is a charming city with a great deal to see.

The oldest and best white horse is the one at Uffington. It is easiest to visit it by car. So if you want to see that maybe you should start either in Windsor, as Annhig suggests, or maybe in Oxford, before heading to Avebury for a more interesting stone circle than Stonehenge (imho).
At Uffington also visit the castle (an earthwork, not a stone one) and Wayland's Smithy, up on the Ridgeway.

Lots of info to absorb. I'm still reading some of the responses so I may be duplicating something.

But some random thoughts:

• "We will have 5 days in London and then catch the train to a town where we will pick up a hire car. A friend had done this and found it better than hiring in London and driving through the city and outerskirts."

Renting in London or at some outlying town aren't your only options. And neither of those are usually the best. W/ all due respect to your friend (she probably didn't ask here first -huh? )

Usually - by far - the best places to pick up a rental car are at major airports (Depending on where you end up going LHR or LGW are likely the best) you take public transport from London to the airport.

Most any town/city large enough to have the national rental chains will be a bear to drive in. Starting your driving/getting comfortable w/ the car from one of the major airports is almost always easier.

• Why Birmingham? That seemed to just pop up out of nowhere in your post. No - unless you have friends there or something, don't go to B'ham.

• Ten days is not nearly long enough for that huge circle drive you are contemplating . . .

Now -- I'll go back to reading everyone else's comments . . .

OK -- LOTS of great advice/info above, and very little duplication . . .

Hi Lara

We did a self-drive touring holiday in UK last September, so here's a few thoughts on our experience:

At least 2 nights per stop - changing accommodation more often than this really eats into sight seeing time.

Check travel forums for feedback on accommodation places - some of our choices were less than satisfactory because we didn't do this.

We hired our car from Heathrow - just took the train out there to pick up vehicle after our London stay, then returned it before our flight home. Driving to and from there was very simple with the aid of our GPS.

Use motorways to get quickly from place to place when possible - the narrow local roads are very pretty, but take much longer to travel distances and a lot of the time you can't see much more than hedges!

If you're interested, you can read my thread by clicking on my blue highlighted name tag.

Happy travels, Di

I'm so grateful for all your well thought and written responses....might have guessed you folks on Fodors would set me in the right direction (so to speak)
I am currently digesting it all, from a map persepective, so will be back to ask some more questions shortly if that is no trouble again.