As you're going to be just round the corner:

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.

http://www.historicdockyard.co.uk

This isn't guaranteed to be a fast run, so you may not have that much time. I'd stick more or less to the M27/A34/M40/then your preference between the M69 and the M42

The easiest is Winchester (westbound from Portsmouth starts getting nasty on Sats from July, so I'd avoid Salisbury). If you've got a couple of hours spare, add Warwick (the city, not the castle). Highclere's (aka Downton) on your way. So is the National Herb Centre at Warmington, and the Gaydon Motor Museum.

You could do Chichester (another Cathedral) , but it does mean doubling back the 20 odd miles to Portsmouth.

Winchester is pretty, a pleasant place to walk around, and the inside of the Cathedral is lovely (I prefer the exterior of Salisbury). The great advantage is that is is absolutely on your way.

As Flanneruk says, anything west of the M3,M27 Junction heading west is best avoided early on Saturdays - several times on my way to work I have forgotten this and ended up stuck in a queue of caravans.

Perfect. Just what I was looking for (e.g. don't go this way, try X, Y, Z). I'll map out the options and see what we can fit in (or feel like) on the day. Thanks.

indy - DH just got stuck in Portsmouth for a day while he and his ship-mates waited for the wind to drop a bit, and he speaks highly of the historic dockyard- especially HMS Victory, and Warrior.

definitely worth looking at if you've got the time.

The only catch on the Portsmouth part is we are due to arrive at 6:30 a.m. I'm not sure how quickly they will kick us off the boat but I imagine that we will have the urge to start heading north rather that wait around for things to open.

Nonetheless, I'll look into it just in case. Thanks!

The info DH brought home with him didn't give an opening time, but the website says 10am, which is quite a long time to hang around, even if you found somewhere to have breakfast.

http://www.historicdockyard.co.uk/visitors/

the obvious route [ie most direct] is winchester, Oxford, Royal Leamington Spa, Leicester, Derby.

of those options, winchester and Oxford would be the ones that appealed to me most.

viamichelin.com more or less follows this route on both the michelin preferred and sightseeing options. 182 miles taking 3 1/2 hours. how long do you want to take?

I agree with Annhig that Portsmmouth Dockyard probably offers the most attractive experience for a family like yours. However, I can see that this would require you to hang around in Portsmouth for several hours before the Dockyard was open.

The obvious other attraction would be Stonehenge, and possibly also Avebury. However, this would mean travelling along the A303, one of the major west country routes, and very busy on a summer saturday.

Another possibility, which would upset Flanner, would be Blenheim Palace, off the A34 north of Oxford.

Somewhere which never gets the mentions which I think it deserves is the Weald and Downland Museum (http://www.wealddown.co.uk/) at Singleton, 7 miles north of Chichester. Another attraction worth visiting near Chichester is the Fishbourne Roman Palace (http://sussexpast.co.uk/properties-to-discover/fishbourne-roman-palace).

Our experience is that traffic on a summer saturday is heaviest in the morning and early afternoon. The roads on a Saturday evening can be surprisingly quiet.

More places to investigate -- great!

182 miles taking 3 1/2 hours. how long do you want to take?

Oh, 12-14 hrs? If we get back before 9 pm that's fine (sitting here today -- we might feel different after a week of togetherness!)

Oh, 12-14 hrs? If we get back before 9 pm that's fine (sitting here today -- we might feel different after a week of togetherness!) >>

so you could do two places - say Stonehenge and Blenheim.

BTW, I don't doubt what Chartley says about the A303 on a summer saturday, but IME it's worse travelling west. Going east it's not too bad. in fact, looking at the map perhaps the best way would be via Salisbury [another place to add to your list] which would mean that you would then drive east up the A303 to Stonehenge, before branching off towards Oxford.

Now is the time to get all anoraky.

Going from Portsmouth to Stonehenge, there are two routes I would consider. One is along the M27 towards Southampton, then north on the M3 and A34 until you meet the A303 north of Winchester. You then go west on the A 303. Parts are dual carriageway, but approaching Stonehenge the road is single carriageway and gets congested, especially on a Saturday morning in summer.

The alternative route would be along the M27 past Southampton and then north on the A36 to Salisbury. It is the M27 west of Southampton that gets very congested on saturdays in summer.

Indy-dad. Have you lived in the U.K. long enough yet to know that all social gatherings start with a long discussion about which route people used to arrive at the venue.

There must be some equivalent in other cultures.

Have you lived in the U.K. long enough yet to know that all social gatherings start with a long discussion about which route people used to arrive at the venue.>>

we then move onto the weather which keeps us happy for another half an hour or so. after that we can move onto someone else and start all over again!

"Another possibility, which would upset Flanner, would be Blenheim Palace"

I doubt indydad would worry too much about my feelings on the matter.

Many people following this forum may have noticed I think Blenheim is a blot on the landscape and extortionately expensive for a glorified Las Vegas hotel in an overblown municipal park - and don't get me started on the feckless scroungers who get their living from it.

But driving from the south coast to the midlands is about the least painful opportunity to see if you agree - and one of the few occasions there may almost be a case for clocking the dump out. It's never more than 10 mins from and back to the A34/A44 junction (except when it's having a crowd-generating concert, which is never the case on a summer Saturday morning). Woodstock's a terrifically pretty village, with decent pubs, surprisingly good bar snacks for rural England and often a Saturday morning farmer's market that's got a lot better over the past few months. And Blenheim's immense park, though often boring, offers a great way to stretch your legs.

"The alternative route would be along the M27 past Southampton and then north on the A36 to Salisbury. It is the M27 west of Southampton that gets very congested on saturdays in summer."

As discussed above - this is almost certainly going to be a problem as long queues of caravans, thinking they have avoided congestion by setting off early, converge on the M27 junction 2.
Sometimes it tails back as far as Winchester.

If the ferry is due to dock at 6.30 don't count at getting out of the docks before 8.00am. They have increased passport checking etc. and it took us well over an hour to move from the ship to the passport booths when we came back on the evening ferry from Caen just over a week ago. Make sure you have plenty of fuel so you don't have to worry about how much the queuing is using up!

Places to visit? Blenheim Palace does seem to be the obvious one but if you don't want grandiose how about Winchester for breakfast and a wander around town and then later Stratford. You could easily visit the town and then go to one of the NT properties close by or (sticking to Shakespeare) you could go to Mary Arden's Farm http://www.shakespeare.org.uk/visit-the-houses.html

Quote chartley: "Somewhere which never gets the mentions which I think it deserves is the Weald and Downland Museum (http://www.wealddown.co.uk/) at Singleton, 7 miles north of Chichester. Another attraction worth visiting near Chichester is the Fishbourne Roman Palace (http://sussexpast.co.uk/properties-to-discover/fishbourne-roman-palace)."

This.
In spades.


Only problem is it doesn't get you far on your way to Derby, but that's OK, but if it does bother you here's an alternative ancient site rather than Stonehenge, and it's just off the A-34:- The White Horse at Uffington - a prehistoric (and iconic) figure cut into the turf allowing the chalk to show through. See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uffington_White_Horse.

There's a decent pub in Uffington for lunch too, but for the life of me I can't remember the name - The Dragon? maybe someone else can...

Dr D.

The White Horse?

Thanks again for all the responses -- very helpful.

Still haven't had a chance to map them all out. We did do Stonehenge/Avebury and White Horse (from a distance) on an earlier trip so will probably head up a more northernly route.

Winchester and Blenheim Palace look promising but I'll check them all out.

If you do go to Winchester, you are going to be there fairly early - probably around 8am even if you do get delayed exitting the ferry. You won't have any problems finding parking at that time, and it does give you plenty of time to stroll around the sights.

First: Winchester, if you're not planning a trip later on, is an absolute must -and that early you can see a lot before the place fills up.

The great arguments for Blenheim later on in the day, of course, are:
- if you're planning a specific trip in a few months to Oxford, squeezing Blenheim in is a bugger. You can hardly change gear in the time it takes from the A34 though.

- if you're as horrified as me at the Churchills' greed in the prices they charge, you can park the car in the Prince of Wales pub at the north end of the town on the A44, pop into the park by the legal free entrance opposite, decide you're in my camp on the monstrosity of the Palace once you see the outside then drive on to the Gaydon Motor Museum or Warwick. If you agree with other people, you can pay up the entrance fee honestly and have a look round.