In mid April and early May we are planning 18 days mostly in Devon, Cornwall and Wales.
We'll be picking up a rental car at Heathrow and then following the itinerary below. We have purposely kept our driving to a few hours each day and have 4 destinations where we stay multiple days. We would love to hear your comments and suggestions. Thanks in advance.
( ps we are retired , very seasoned travellers from Canada Our preference in accomodation is 4 / 5 star inns if you have any suggestions )

Arrive Heathrow 11 am. Pickup rental car. Drive to Salisbury 1.5 hrs. Overnight
See Stonehenge then drive to Dartmouth 3 hours
Morning in Dartmouth then drive to St. Ives 2.5 hours. Stay 3 days.
Drive to Wells 3.5 hours overnight
Drive to Tenby 3 hours. Stay 2 nights
Drive to Dolgellau 3 hours overnight
Drive to Conwy 1 hour. Stay 5 nights
Drive to Lincoln 4 hours. Stay 2 nights visiting friends.
Drive to Heathrow. Overnight
Leave for home.

• you may have underestimated some of your drive times.

• Also, you will be traveling over the Easter Holidays and 2 bank holidays (the royal wedding and the early May Bank Holiday). I don't have the time just now to walk through your whole plan to see where you'll be staying/driving on the holidays.

• 4 and 5 star really doesn't tell us enough -- what is your actual budget?

(You do have responses on your other thread)

Meant to add - I do like your overall plan. But I would not drive on your arrival day. The jestlag can be a killer.

I have taken the drive times from Google maps. Actually we have driven a short distance on arrival before and this time it will only be an hour and a bit after arriving into Heathrow in the morning. If not we are sitting in a Heathrow hotel wasting a day.

Our budget is $ 200 to $ 250 a night

"<i>I have taken the drive times from Google maps.</i>"

That's fine -- but then you need to add 25%-40% to those drive times. More on Bank holiday weekends.

"<i>Actually we have driven a short distance on arrival before and this time it will only be an hour and a bit after arriving into Heathrow in the morning. If not we are sitting in a Heathrow hotel wasting a day.</i>"

There are MANY options other than stewing in a LHR hotel -- who suggested that?

Windsor for instance is only 7 miles from LHR -- and a MUCH nicer place to stay than LHR. Or you could take an express coach to Bath and collect your car the next day. LHR to Salisbury is approx 75 miles and about 2-ish hours. 2 hours driving would be foolhardy if you are jet lagged, and you won't know your condition until you are on the ground. Driving impaired (sleepy/exhausted/jetlagged) is considered as serious as DUI if there is a problem.

You <i>might</i> be fine -- but very possibly, not . . . .

Driving times for the UK are probably better on www.theaa.com, but I'd still add on 20-25%. Or just use 35 mph as an average.

Which date do you arrive, so we can see how the bank holidays fit in ? Many Brits will be on holiday then as we have 2 4-day weekends (or 11 days off for the cost of 3 days annual leave).

Caroline : We will arrive tentatively on Tuesday, April 19 at about 10 am.

Janisj : We've done Windsor but maybe we'll consider your suggestion and do it again.

galiano -i just spotted this - may I offer a fwe comments from snow-bound Cornwall?

1. why are you going to Dartmouth for one night? it is not an obvious stop en route from Salisbury to St. Ives. if you wanted to stop before Dartmoor there is a most lovely hotel near honiton which I suspect that you would love ie http://www.combehousedevon.com/xmas.php

alternatively, there are a number of country house hotels on the moor, or Exeter itself is very interesting for a night - i could recommend a couple of hotels if you liked.

2. if you are determined on Dartmouth, why not stay another night? - there many interesting things to see and do in the area, not only nearby places like Salcombe, but also Agatha Christie's house Greenway, at Brixham.

3. Instead of racing to St. Ives in 3 hours or so [if you're lucky!], I suggest going across Dartmoor - it is beautiful any time of year. Dartmeet, for example is lovely and would be on your way to St. Ives, and Tavistock is a very interesting market town.

4. Again, 2 nights seems quite a short time to be spending in Tenby, having spent all that time getting there! I would want another night there I think.

5. 5 nights in Conwy - I've never been there, and you may know why you want 5 nights, but you could "borrow" 2 nights from here and give one each to Tenby and Dartmouth!

feel free to come back and ask me about anything to do with Cornwall and Devon, particularly.

happy planning!

Hi Galiano,
Tenby is a beautiful place and 2 days to cover the area may or may not be enough time, depending upon what you want to see.

If you are there on Bank holidays Tenby will be packed, so book early for your rooms.

Your travelling from Wells which is about 160 miles, the M4 has large chunks of restricted speed limits of 50mph. 3 hrs? closer 4, I would say.

Your passing by Cardiff,(well worth a stop) Laugharne (simply beautiful)and the Gower penninsula, which is gorgeous. It's well worth investigating the areas you are passing through.

Heading North to Dolgellau, you will be passing through coastal regions which are of outstanding natural beauty, enjoy them and try not to skip through them.

Your route is interesting and I think you will have a great time through a very lovely part of Wales.

Enjoy.

Muck

All your replies are excellent so thank you for your suggestions. I'm now going to review them and make changes in our plans. Certainly we will take in as many of the highlites between our overnight stops as possible.

Perhaps it would be best if we started from Heathrow and stayed nearby for the first night. So I'm looking at a very good place called the Rainworth Guest House in Oakley Green just outside Windsor. Then on to Salisbury etc starting the next day. We would then cut one day off Conwy.

It now seems that 18 days is much too short. There is sooo much to see and do in Cornwall, Devon and Wales.

One more thing : I just checked our driving times between stops which had come from Google Maps against the AA site and their driving times. Virtually identical, within minutes of each other for all legs. So one is as good as the other.

"<i> Virtually identical, within minutes of each other for all legs. So one is as good as the other.</i>"

Sorry -- but that should read >>one is as <u>bad</u> as the other.<<

As annhig and mucky (locals) and I (used to be local) mentioned, the drives will take longer than the on-line calculators' times.

Rainworth Guest House looks very nice-- that would be a good compromise and let you start out well rested for your (longer than anticipated ) drives.

Well if our 3 hour drives turn in to 4 hours that's not so bad at all. We just don't want any 8 hour days ( too old for that )

We will not be rushing between destinations rather wandering. We've travelled enough over the past 40 or so years to know the importance of taking ones time. We are very much looking forward to this trip.

Now what about castles and gardens not to be missed ?

Just a warning - we were stuck on the highway from Heathrow to Cornwall this summer and it took us 6 hours to get from Heathrow - Exeter. This was a Sat in Aug though, but with the many bank holidays it could be really busy on the roads so be prepared to potentially have some delays. Sounds like you are breaking up the drive - that is a good plan!

As for gardens and castles - we very much enjoyed the Lost Gardens of Heligan when we were there this past Aug: http://www.heligan.com/ They also have a lovely gift shop.

I am sure you have heard of the Eden Project which is also in Cornwall. We gave it a miss, but maybe it is of interest as well: http://www.edenproject.com/

Loads of Castles in Wales:

http://www.castlewales.com/

http://www.cardiffcastle.com/

http://www.cadw.wales.gov.uk/default...d=6&PlaceID=48

Good luck

Muck

Gardens in [and around] Cornwall:

Heligan [see above - great in any season]

Trelissick [on the road to the King Harry Ferry] [my fave non-spring garden]

Trengwainton [a great spring garden near Penzance]

Trewithen [another terrific Spring garden]

the Garden House [near Cotele, near Saltash] really lovely, both of them

I've probably forgotten a few, but that's enough to be going on with.

And my favorite garden in Cornwall: Trebah (south of Falmouth)

A castle of sorts in Cornwall: Tintagel

Have you looked into the Great British Heritage Pass? For a single price, it gives you admission to all National Trust, English Heritage and Cadw (Welsh Heritage) properties. Here's a link: www.britishheritagepass.com

I forgot another notable castle in Cornwall: St. Michael's Mount.

Oh yes - I'd definitely get GBHPs. All the castles in Wales and gardens in Devon/Cornwall plus other places (gardens, castles, stately homes, neolithic sites) all along your route, the Great British Heritage Pass will pay for itself 4 or 5 times over.

Wonderful garden suggestions. Thank you. I would assume late April early May should be a good time to visit gardens. It's not a good time to be leaving my garden though !

I'll look into the pass suggestion as that seems a good idea.