Is a daytrip from London to Stourhead practical? I've been to the National Trust site, but I can't figure out how to get there from London.

What would be the easiet or cheapest way to get from London to Stourhead? The site says to go to Gillingham, and then take a taxi?

We won't have a car, but I wanted to know if I could do it anyway.

I've never been there, but I would tend to take National Trust's advice. The train from London Waterloo to Gillingham will take about 2 hours. You can get the schedule at www.national.co.uk. Gillingham is big enough town that there should be taxis there that meet trains or a free phone to call one.

Pardon me, www.nationalrail.co.uk

&quot;<i>I can't figure out how to get there from London</i>&quot; - you already figured it out - <i>The site says to go to Gillingham, and then take a taxi</i>

Yes - it would be doable in a day - train to Gillingham and then a taxi about 7-8 miles to Stourhead. On your way back on the train you could stop in Salisbury to look around, visit the Cathedral.

The train will leave from Waterloo station

Sorry - I was posting the same time as ron. Didn't mean to duplicate his info.

Thanks guys - any one know if it is 7-8 miles by taxi how much that would cost?

There are two British stations spelt Gillingham. One is in Kent and is pronounced Jilling'um. The one you want is in Dorset and is pronounced Ghilling'um, with a hard &quot;G&quot;. When you ask for a ticket, make sure you get the right one.

Anna, my rule of thumb is that taxis doing rural trips in the UK cost &pound;2 to &pound;2.50 per mile, so you would be looking at &pound;15 to &pound;20 each way.

If you need a more precise number, you could contact one of the taxi companies listed on this site, http://www.britinfo.net/taxis/TBJAP28050.htm

Thanks ron - I finally got a reply back from the Stourhead Estate - I was told a taxi from Gillingham Station would cost 14 pounds each way, which is pretty close to what you said it would be.

Stourhead is one of my favourite places in the UK. I know you said you won't have a car, but based on the cost of train travel and taxis would you consider hiring a car for the day? It is very easy driving once out of London, another option to consider. Of course if you don't drive then it is no option at all!! 2xtrain travel can be very exy in the UK.

Hope you do arrange to do this. Stourhead, May 2000 was worth any effort we made to get there. You will find it memorable.

schnauzer,

Do you mean renting a car in london and then driving out, or renting a car in the countryside?

I've done no research on car prices, but isn't gas prices really bad in England?

hopingtotravel,

how did you get to stourhead - was it by car?

The day return fare (round trip on same day) by train is &pound;31.70 (or &pound;30.40 if you leave after 0930). The journey takes about two hours and trains are hourly.

Anna1013: renting a car is a viable plan. Yes petrol is expensive. and one-day rentals do run pretty high. So it wouldn't be a huge money saver if you were traveling alone. It would give you a lot more flexibility though - time enough to visit one or two other sites such as Longleat or Stonehenge/Salisbury, or even spend a few hours in Bath.

But you said &quot;we&quot; in your OP. For 2 or more, a car will be a bargain. &pound;30 x 2 train fare plus &pound;30 for the cab is more than one would pay for a 1-day car rental.

If the thought of renting IN London makes you crazy you could go out to Richmond or LHR and pick up a car there. From either location it would be dual carriageway or motorway most of the way to Mere/Stourhead.

Geoffhamer - which website did you use to get those prices? I've been trying to see which train company has the best deal.

Janisj - yes, there will be two of us, but we only drive automatic. Then there is the problem that both of us are from Maui, and have never driven in a huge city, let alone one in which you are driving on the other side of the road.

You mentioned it would just be on the motorway - do you mean we would just be on one highway/road the entire way from Heathrow?

No you wouldn't be on one road all the way - but almost.

You would take the M3 to a junction w/ the A303 which goes w/i a mile of Stourhead. The garden is well signposted and you couldn't really miss it.

Most of the way is motorway - like a US freeway, or dual carriageway - which means a divided road.

janisj - if we did rent a car from Heathrow, is it pretty easy to leave the city from there?

Heathrow isn't IN the city - it is about 15 or so miles west of London. And it is right on or nearly on 4 main motorways (M4, M40, M25, M3) so it is easy to just about anywhere from there w.o having to drive in London at all.

I can't give you exact directions to the M3 since each rental agency is in a different location (all are off the airport itself). So wherever you rent from - they can give you the simplest direction how to get on the M3 and the rest of your drive would be very straightforward.

Anna, one suspects that once you start doing the calculations, you are not going to find much savings by renting a car. I suspect a one day airport rental of a car with an automatic gear box will cost over &pound;50. A 300 km + journey will burn close to 20 litres of fuel. I don't know what the current UK prices are, but it must be close to &pound;1 per litre. And then there is the cost of getting to Heathrow. &pound;8 to &pound;16 by tube, depending on whether you are on Oyster or not. But that will burn 1.5 to 2 hours of your day, just getting to and from the airport. Or over &pound;50 if you use the Heathrow Express.

Renting in central London would save you the airport travel costs and might add 5 litres to the fuel usage, but would give you a time limit on returning the car in evening (or cause you to have to pay &pound;25 for overnight parking).

Wth regard to train prices, you can find them on the national rail site that I referenced in my amended first response. The name of the train company is Southwest.

Renting in Londo might save money, but it would mean driving in London--my husband, who drives the back roads of France with equanimity, says that London was his worst nightmare.