jaauca

Planning 10 day trip in early May. 3 of us will rent car and hope to see a lot of the countryside. What are the "don's miss" things in that area? Any nice gardens? How is the weather? I am very sensitive to the cold. Do I need long underwear?

Luckyscout

I have traveled to England in March, just a few years ago and I was lucky, not so cold. You should be ok in May, but bring all kinds of cloths, like a rain poncho and a few sweaters. Check the weather online before you go, but it should not be very cold. I hope to travel more in England and visit Bath, Oxford,New Forest and the Isle of Wight as well someday! Only been to London. Next time I want to go to those communities not just London. If interested check out my travel blog www.travelwiththomas.blogspot.com
Have a great trip!

aussiedreamer

Hi there jaauca, we were in The New Forest among other place in May this year. The weather was beautiful, warm days cool nights. I was very comfortable in jeans and used layering. Some days & nights I needed a warmer jacket but all in all I don't remember thinking I was too cold.

We drove to the Cotswolds, down to Darmoor in Devon, over to Cornwall and back up through Sussex to London. Cornwall was cool, but still great.

Hope it helps I've done a T/R, click on my name and you'll find it.

Hooameye

The main problem is that that the UK has a "maritime climate", the weather this April/May was a little bit unusual in being so warm and dry for so long, generally it's more unpredictable than that. In May it could be anything really, cold, warm, wet, dry, windy or calm but you "probably" won't see any snow!!

janisj

"<i>In May it could be anything really, cold, warm, wet, dry, windy or calm</i>"

And possibly all of the above on consecutive days (or even the same day )

annhig

jauuca - that's quite a large area to cover in 10 days. you could easily spend the time in the New forest and the isle of Wight alone.

where are you starting and finishing?

anyway, don't worry about the weather- you'll be spending the whole time in the car!

jaauca

Humm, the weather sounds much like N.H. "If you don't like it wait a while;" Annhig, Our prelim. itinerary: 2 nights in London, train to Oxford,pick up car, 1 night there, 2 nights Bath, 1 night Lynhurst, and late ferry to Yarmouth, 3 days in I of Wight. Is that really too much? I DON'T want to spend "the whole time in the car"! What would leave out? I appreciate your input.

janisj

OK --you don't need a car IN Oxford or IN Bath. Just one night in Oxford means you aren't exploring the Cotswolds or nearby so won't really have any use for a car.

So an easier option might be train to Oxford/see Oxford. Train to Bath/see Bath. Collect car when leaving Bath.

texasbookworm

Listen to janisj--you DO NOT want to mess with a car in Oxford or Bath. (We picked up a car at LHR and drove to the outskirts of Oxford, left stuff at B&B, got bus into Oxford for the day and then bussed back, drove on into Cotswolds next day--but as you, after Oxford, are then going to another city where you'd also be better off not having a car, you would probably be wise to do as she says.)

nytraveler

In May a very light weight jacket - with a cotton sweater you can add at night if you want should be plenty. Long underwear is for all day on the ski slopes or Siberia. I know England isn;t as hot as the US in the summer - but May is spring - not winter. But do be prepared for rain - sturdy folding umbrella and waterproofed walking shoes.

Even i fyou will not be in London at all - but just in the counntryside - 10 nights isn's much for this trip. If you are seeing the Cotswolds from Oxford you need 4 nights there - one day for Oxford (very quick look) and 2 days for the Cotswolds (again a quick look). Also you need at leas 2 nights (1 full day) in Bath.

Lay ot what you want to see- and how long it will do so. Then list them by days. I think you will find you are coming up short.

alya

You're from NH? pack the clothing you'd wear in May at home but expect rain in England.

Seriously though, the weather in England gets really bad press. They've had better weather than us in New England this summer, much less rain.

jaauca

When I posted this originally I asked about the weather, but I also asked about "must see" things in this area of England. People had a lot to say about the weather and driving, but I was kind of surprised that no one mentioned any thing to see or do. i did a similar post for "France" too because we will also be there for a couple of weeks and ther were lots of comments & suggstions about places to visit. This is really a nostalgia trip for me because I did a bicycle tour (youth hostel) back in 1954 !!!!!!!!!!!! At that time I fell in love with all things English and with Bath and the Isle of Wight. I never saw the New Forest in the light of day, because we were lost roaming around with the ponies all night on our bikes, so I kind of wanted to see it too. Tell me, is it still nice there or am I making a mistake, should we just spend our whole vacation in France and keep my memories of England and the Isle of Wight unsullied?

janisj

"<i> Tell me, is it still nice there or am I making a mistake, should we just spend our whole vacation in France . . . </i>"

My goodness - what a leap?? From 'folks didn't tell us what to see' to "<i>Maybe we shouldn't go to England</i>"

Oxford - see Oxford w/o a car. Will totally fill your one day there.

Bath - same thing. See it w/o a car. Bath will fill the 1.5 days you'd have there. Roman Baths/Bath Abbey/Victoria Park/Royal Crescent/the Circus (a street -- not a 'circus'), etc.

New Forest and nearby -- way more to see/do than you'll have time for in the less than one full you'll have there. Beaulieu, Bucklar's Hard, the beautiful forest scenery is about 2 days worth.

IOW - Shanklin, Osborne House, the Needles, St Catherine's lighthouse, Carisbrooke Castle, a couple of different Roman villas, Bembridge Windmill, and more . . . .

annhig

Jaaucu,

i started to post a reply last night, but lost it, somehow.

anyway, you must have some reason for wanting to go to Oxford - and it must be a pretty good one if you want to be there for less than 24 hours!

which is fodor-speak for "why are you going to Oxford at all if you don't want to spend more than 24 hours there?"

I suggest dropping Oxford, and going straight to Bath, where there is plenty to see and do for a couple of days at least. then hire your car and head for the New Forest [via Salisbury to see the Cathedral etc], spend a night [at least] there, and then cross to the Isle of Wight. the west of the island [Freshwater way] is particularly lovely or follow jj's suggestions.

i'm sure you'll have a great trip.

flanneruk

You really have to stop using absurd ideas like "must see" or "don't miss"

They're damnfool concepts anyway. But especially damnfool for the places you're thinking of going (except for Oxford - where the idea you have to allow 6, 12, 24 or 100 hours is the sort of prescriptive claptrap only an American can dream up)

The Cotswolds, the New Forest and the Isle of Wight all epitomise why "don't misses" are just silly. The Cotswolds are a range of hill-ettes with several dozen equally pretty microtowns (tourists call them villages, which irritates us because our forbears worked bloody hard to get the royal warrant making us towns 600-800 years ago, with all the attendant liberties creating the medieval proverb 'Stadtluft macht frei'). The microtowns are pretty well interchangeable (their minimal differences exercise us, but are trivial) 24 hours' meandering in a car, or better yet 24 hours' driving round with a couple of decent 5-10 mile walks in between) are all you need. Twice as long is twice as nice: the region's official site (www.cotswoldsaonb.org.uk) is full of bright ideas. Your life will be in no way the poorer by just picking at random.

The New Forest is even more devoid of trite tourist cliches: it's just a pretty, flat, undeveloped stretch of woodland. Get a train to Brockenhurst, hire a bike, then cycle round. And as for the Isle of Wight, same thing, only on their buses, after grabbing a "great island walks" booklet from their tourist centre in Ryde and following instructions.

Personally, on your timeframe, I'd pick just two at most of your suggested rural areas. I wouldn't even think of suggesting how long you give to Oxford. Nor would I dream up anything as ridiculous as prescribing a minimum stay

It's perfectly possible to get a HUGE amount out of a 6 hour Oxford stay - especially by following the self-guided tours on the Oxfordshire official tourist site (http://www.visitoxfordandoxfordshire...ineraries.aspx. The Web's lousy with other sites purporting to be official, mostly advertising hideous hotels 20 miles away), or booking a Blue Badge walking tour at the city's Tourist Information Centre. It's also possible to spend a month there, laboriously working your way round all the city's resources. Neither strategy (or anything in between) is self-evidently wrong