2 Best Sights in The South, England

Train enthusiasts love this largely volunteer-run railroad that makes 25-minute, 6-mile scenic trips, with steam (and some diesel) locomotives pulling vintage train carriages across the Isle of Purbeck—actually a peninsula. Trips begin from Norden in the center and go to the seaside town of Swanage via Corfe Castle. Small, pretty stations with flower baskets, painted signs, and water bowls for dogs add to the excursion's charm. Trains leave approximately every 70 to 120 minutes in low season, and every 45 minutes in high season.

This 10-mile-long scenic railroad line named for the area's watercress beds is reserved for steam locomotives and takes in both the highest station in southern England and several locomotive restoration workshops. It starts at Alresford (8 miles northeast of Winchester by A31 and B3046), where you'll find some antiques shops and Georgian houses, and runs to Alton.