Itinerary Help - London + Kent/Sussex
 

Traveling with husband and 15 y/o daughter on spring break April '06. This will be my fourth trip to England and the 2nd for my daughter (we can't afford to do this kind of thing very often, so always struggle with balance of seeing alot and not killing ourselves with the itinerary.) Only have 8 nights so we will spend 4 in London, then rent a car and want to do 4 nights S/E or S/W of London, ending in Windsor the last day to see Windsor Castle & Eton. Will return the car at Heathrow for our departure.

I love stately homes, history, quaint villages, pubs, B & B's, farmhouses, talking to English people, and the beautiful countryside, but have to be mindful of my daughter's limited tolerance for cathedrals and her need for excitement (much of which can be satisfied with London!) I've already seen Cambridge, York and Woburn Abbey & Safari Park without the family - so feeling a little guilty as I know my daughter & husband would love all of those but I want to see new places.

As a family we've seen a bit of the Cotswolds, Bath, Warwick Castle, Stratford upon Avon. Hence my choice of Kent/Sussex since we cannot go too far afield with only four nights.

Can you suggest a driving itinerary and key sights and accomodations? I'm pretty sure I want to see Arundel Castle, Hever and/or Leeds Castle, perhaps Canterbury Cathedral. We don't mind changing lodgings each night.

Also, where would be the best part of London (or outskirts) to pick up a car to exit the city heading south? (my only experience with this is picking up near Russell Sq. and heading N/W on the A40/M40 which we found very easy)

here is a link to my trip report (long) for a similar trip I took in June 04. We had longer in London but only 4 days in Kent/E Sussex. We based in a lovely B&B near Wadhurst and ended up in Windsor before flying home the next day.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34511389

Instead of a "driving itinerary" - I'd stay in one place for the 4 days and do day trip from there. A lote easier than packing and moving every day.

Oh - meant to add - if you want to just look over the Kent/Sussex bits skip to the entry for June 24 -- all the preceding entries cover the London part of the trip.

Oh - yet another ps:

A couple of comments - driving across S London is not as easy as taking teh A40 out to the west. That is why we opted to taking the train to Gatwick and pick up the car there. Plus LGW is a good jumping off point for Hever/Chartwell/Penshurst.

We skipped Leeds -- on purpose. I have been there several times but the only real reason to go there is for the gardens/grounds. The castle itself is not much to write home about. And w/ all the other amazing gardens we visited (Hever, Penshurst, Sissinghurst, Scotney, Wisley. Walmer) Leeds would have been far down the list.

We didn't make it to Canterbury this trip - just not enough time to see/do everything. I'd been there but my friend hadn't and she was just OK w/ us leaving it off.

Arundel IS lovely - but there is sooooo much to see closer to Kent that you may not want to take that significant detour. But if you didn't take the M25 back towards Windsor you could drive west along the coast and thne head north after visiting Arundel.

My husband, my daughter (17 months) and I are leaving for England on Wednesday. We'll be spending 4 days in Kent (Based in Canterbury), after having gone to N. Wales and York. Kent is the only area we've NOT been to before. Our itinerary includes Dover, Walmer and Deal castles, Sissinghurst, Bodiam and Scotney castles, Hever And Penhurst. I'll let you know how it goes when we return!