I am planning to rent a car and travel to the following areas for a total of 4 days/3 nights: Somerset, particularly Wells and Glastonbury, Dorset, particularly Thomas Hardy's cottage and the Lyme Regis area, as well as both South and North Devon, including Dartmoor and Exmoor areas.

Could I get assistance with the best route to take to ensure that I am taking the most efficient route and not back tracking?
Could I base myself in one area to do this rergion justice or would it be best to stay in different locations each night?

Thank you in advance!

As one who has been a tourist many times to this lovely and under-appreciated area of England, I'd suggest that you're trying to do too much in such a brief period of time.

For instance, Wells and especially the cathedral, is one of my favorites (not Glastonbury though) and you could easily spend the better part of one of your precious days just there. Also, going to the South Devon coast or the North Devon coast and not taking a cliff-top hike would be missing something special and of course, this takes time. The same goes for the Moor Parks.

Try to narrow your scope and save some goodies for your next trip!

I agree. Devon alone is a large area and the north and south Devon coasts are separated by the absolutely amazing Dartmoor and Exmoor. Dartmoor by itself is worth a full day's exploration. Wells Cathedral, the Bishop's Palace, and Glastonbury would take a full day. Lyme Regis, Hardy's cottage, the Dorset coast, Corfe Castle, Dorchester, Durdle Door, etc would fill another couple of days.

If you are set on trying to get to all of these areas settle on one B&B near Honiton, Sidmouth, Crediton or somewhere like that. Use this as a base to tour the whole area -- rather than moving to a different B&B every day..

Thanks so much for your quick response. I suspected that I might be trying to see too much in such a short time so I will definitely narrow it down to one or two areas. You've both helped me out tremendously.

Valerie, from whence will you be coming and to whence are you going before this little tour? Very dificult to plan a route without knowing this.

JS Smith - My itinerary is this: I will be in London for a few days and then I fly to Edinburgh for a week. I will rent the car at Heathrow upon my return from Edinburgh and from here will start my 4 day trip to the southwest area. I return home to the US from Heathrow. I really appreciate your recommendations!

Assuming you're heading west on the M4, northeast of Bath, just off the M4, is the exquisite village of Castle Combe. Try to find time for it...

Valerie, I concur with the first two posters. You just don't have time for Exmoor and Dartmoor. Save them and Cornwall for another day. Wells and Glastonbury make for a good day, as do Lyme Regis and Dorchester. I would certainly want to be closer to Heathrow on departure day than the area Janis mentioned. I've driven from Salisbury to Heathrow to catch a flight and that's about the maximum I'd want.

Either direction would work, Heathrow to Dorchester to Wells to Heathrow.

Good luck.

When I made those recommendations, it was for a base convenient to the areas ValerieDawn wants to visit.

Of course, it wouldn't be a good idea to stay down in Dorset the night before flying out of Heathrow.

Wow! I'd have trouble doing north and south Devon in 4 days/3 nights. And the sleepy villages of Dorset are another story again. You've certainly picked a charming part of England, but if that's all the time you have you might need to cut it down a bit.
If you're set on it, then you COULD do:
Day 1 - Wells Cathedral, then drive on (preferably via the Cheddar Gorge) as far into North Devon as you can get that night (Lynmouth if possible).
Day 2 - through Exmoor and overnight at Widdecombe-upon-the-Moor in Dartmoor.
Day 3 - South Devon coast, to Dorset. Beyond Lyme Regis the road gets truck-infested and I prefer to dive up through Evershot, Sturminster Newton etc. Overnight at Christchurch or one of the New Forest villages (Lymington is nice, but so are they all).
Day 4 - Drive via Romsey, Winchester to put yourself within easy reach of whichever airport you are aiming for (Gatwick or Heathrow).

Janis, didn't mean to offend you but did feel it necessary to draw attention that the area was a long way to travel from to catch a flight.

Actually, my drive to Heathrow was from Sixpenny Handley not Salisbury about 15 miles longer.

Valerie, if you do decide to head towards Winchester from Dorchester, Wimborne Minster has an unusual chained library in the church.

jsmith: I didn't take any offense (at all). I was agreeing that it doesn't make any sense to be way down in Dorset IF she does have to catch a flight out of heathrow. When I made those recs there had been no mention that Valerie might need to be near LHR at the end of her SW jaunt.

Hello All - Thank you very much for all suggestions - this is exactly what I was looking for, to help me enjoy my trip all that much more. I should have been clearer on defining my itinerary.
You've all been wonderful.