Britain by train.
 

Those who know me and perhaps read my winter trip report, realize that I take one or two train trips in Britain each year. What I enjoy are small towns, less than 5,000 population, with perhaps a museum not far away. I truly enjoyed St. Bees and North Berwick and am seeking suggestions for my next trip. Been to Wool in Dorset, Wellington, Moreton-in-Marsh, Haltwhistle and many more. So, where to head to by train?

I've just this moment come back from Dorchester which is quite nice and has two museums - the military museum of Dorset and Devon and the County museum. Direct trains from Waterloo - a bit further on than Wool.

Far too much Thomas Chuffin' Hardy though (Dorchester4 is "Casterbridge")

I've read some of your trip reports, roger - you do get around LOL!

Have you 'done' Shropshire? With Ironbridge, Ludlow, Shrewsbury as just 3 towns on the main line through.

Also I live close to Stroud in the South Cotswolds. Here is a heritage of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, there are engine sheds, bridges designed and built by this great engineer. Further south is Bristol, again with Temple Meads Station as a IKB building. Swindon ( a Great Western railway museum here) and Bath, Gloucester, Cheltenham, Worcester and Oxford are all no more than 1 1/2 hours by train.

North coast of Wales? Not so sure about museums but lots of castles--Canarvon, Conwy, Beaumaris plus Bodnant Gardens and the old Victorian resort town of Llandudno. If a train isn't practical to all locations, we've found the local bus service to be very good.

Roger, I have to agree with CW,( David ). I think you'd enjoy Dorset and Dorchester. It's my favorite part of the UK. You could also talk with one of our mutal friends, Mel, about Blandford Forum. He father served there in WWII and she has a trip report somewhere. David and I are thinking of doing that route again next year or this fall. I love that area and we could do a trip to Portsmouth Harbour to see the Victory and Mary Rose, if we don't get a chance to do that next week.

David , good to know there are trains to Dorchester from Waterloo. The only ones I found that also had a car rental agency nearby were Taunton. Dorchester would be so much more convenient.

Thanks so far. Some years back I did Portsmouth and really enjoyed seeing the ships and D-day museum. Dorchester looks interesting, perhaps a bit large. Wales, did Cardiff, Caerphilly, Conwy and a couple of other places. Great fun, but the legs are not up to it any more. I did a little of Shropshire. Lovely area. What I am looking for is a small village to spend a couple of nights doing nothing but to get over jet lag. That is why North Berwick filled the bill. Good B&B and a couple of pubs.

The little rail line (regular service) from Norwich over to the coast stops at a number of villages along the way. I don't know much about them because I stayed on the train to Great Yarmouth (G.Y. not highly recommended by me).

Dorchester's tiny.

You can walk from one end to the other in ten minutes (my mum lives in Poundbury which is just outside). Several good pubs too.

Jody: There are several car hire places in Dorchester - you're probably not getting them up on google as you're asking it in American; "car rental", it's called "car hire" over here and a quick google brought up a bunch of 'em. Use google.co.uk rather than .com.