suzski

June 2:
DH and I arrive at LHR from Iceland at 1145 and pick up rental car; head to Avebury to see the stone circle.
Continue on to Lacock where we will stay the night; visit Lacock Abbey.

June 3:
Option 1) Head over to Bath for the day
Option 2) Stay in Lacock - is there enough to fill one day?
Regardless, we will be staying the night in Lacock.

June 4:
Timed tickets at Stonehenge at 1100 (haven't purchased yet, so still flexible on time).
Head to Salisbury to see the Cathedral (have read "London" and very recently "Pillars of the Earth" so this is a must see).
Drop the car off in Southampton and board cruise ship, which departs at 1700.

Questions:
- Are there any quaint towns on the route from Lacock to Stonehenge? That is the reason I was thinking about the 1100 tickets. I'm known to get a little camera snap-happy.
- Do I need to worry about any special holidays/school patterns that might add to the traffic?

jamikins

If you liked London by Edward Rutherford, you may want to read his other book Sarum...

Cathinjoetown

I would want to spend most of the day in Bath. (option 1)

nytraveler

You say your cruise ship departs at 1700 - when do you actually have to be on board? How much time are you allowing to drop off luggage, return the rental car and get to the ship?

Don;t think you have left yourself very much time to grab some lunch and see Salisbury. I would get to Stonehenge earlier.

And I would spend a whole day in Bath.

hetismij2

Do visit the Fox Talbot museum in Lacock while you are there.
The Abbey closes at 5 pm, so you won't have a lot of time there on your first day. Maybe you should go onto to Bath after Avebury and then spend day 2 in Lacock. If there isn't enough to keep you occupied go for a drive afterwards and see something of the surrounding towns, villages and countryside, either north into the Cotswolds or down into the Wiltshire countryside. Or head back to Bath if you feel you didn't see enough on the first day.

hetismij2

Oh just seen that bit about the cruise ship.

Maybe if Stonehenge is a must see then do that on Day 2, and then go back to Lacock to visit the Abbey, museum etc.

You will need to be in Southampton probably by lunchtime for dropping off the car, and going through boarding procedures.

annhig

lol, i thought that this was a thread about the west country. From where i am in Cornwall, Salisbury and even Bath don't really count as SW England.

nevertheless, i wish you a good trip, suzski.

suzski

Thanks all for your responses - and apologize, annhig for the confusion of location...looking on the map it appeared SW to me so that's what I went with - guess S would have been more appropriate.

As far as suggestions for doing Fox Talbot on the 2nd day, that is a no-go as they are closed on Tuesdays. So, we either see it on the day we arrive or the day we leave.

As far as the ship, I can board as late as 3:30 or 4:00; we will be eating a hearty English Breakfast before leaving our B&B so we don't need to worry about a lunch stop (we'll have a virtual all-you-can eat smorgasbord once on the ship so missing a meal beforehand will not hurt us!). I was just allocating time for sightseeing along the route to Stonehenge. If it is a fairly straight ride with no charming Lacock-like villages (that we only get to see courtesy of PBS or BBC productions), then we can get to Stonehenge earlier. That will allow us to visit the Salisbury Cathedral (at this point the only thing I plan to visit in the town, unless you tell me otherwise) and then get to Southampton to drop off the car and board the ship.

I'm also trying to prevent too doubling back and forth - gas prices here are bad enough and from our previous trips abroad I know they are much worse out of the US.

....and jamikins, thanks, I ordered Sarum.

janisj

You really won't have much free time at all on the 4th. You will likely want to be in Southampton by 2:30 at the latest. You'll have to return the car, and get a taxi to the ship.

Lacock > Stonehenge > Salisbury > Southampton takes 2 hours on a VERY good day and 2.5 or 3 hours would be more typical. A visit to Stonehenge takes longer than in the 'old days;' due to the new visitors center and shuttle logistics. Most B&Bs don't serve breakfast til 8:30--ish and w/ checking out etc you will be lucky to be on the road by 9:30. Then it is about 1-1.5 hours to Stonehenge.

I really don't see that you have enough time to visit Salisbury.

suzski

janis - I just checked with my B&B and they serve breakfast at 7:30. Given that, if we eat and are on the road by 8:30, we can be in Stonehenge by 10:00. I'm assuming it would be another thirty minutes to Salisbury so we would be there by 12:00. Allowing an hour there, we would then have another hour on the road to Southampton, which would get us there by 2:00.

Obviously, we will have to return the rental car and catch a taxi to the pier, but this will still allow us a cushion of a few hours.

If we start to run behind, we can always just skip Salisbury and continue straight to Southampton.

Does that sound better?

janisj

You may be lucky, but I have yet to get on the road by 8:30 if there are more than one or two rooms at a B&B. reason being is the same person is serving you, doing the cooking (and they aren't usually fast since they cook things fresh) and checking out you and other guests. Just sayin' it is a very busy time in a B&B and don't expect getting away super early. Now, if you are the only guests, then it'll be different.

Also I'd guess Stonehenge will take at least 90 minutes w/ the new logistics.

Realistically, I wouldn't plan on arriving in Salisbury til around 1PM and just walking to the cathedral and looking around is going to take an hour+.

Cathinjoetown

This info on parking might be helpful. The cathedral is beautiful but don't let the ship sail without you!

http://www.salisburycathedral.org.uk/visit/getting-here

suzski

We are the only room at our B&B (Thatch Cottage Lacock) so timing of breakfast and checking out shouldn't be a problem - I've already communicated with the innkeeper about our desire to make it to Stonehenge by 10:00 and she's assured me it's no problem.

As far as missing the ship...nope, don't want to do that either! As a 30 year Navy veteran, I have been trained to never miss "ship's movement" and I apply that to my civilian sailings as well. As I said, I will definitely keep an eye on the clock as we leave Stonehenge to see whether a stop is feasible.

Cathinjoetown, thanks for the link to the parking. Will have to factor that in to the equation.

As far as the full second day, I think I'm committed to Bath. I've read far too many Georgian novels to skip it when I'm so close.

Steve_James

Wouldn't you have time to visit both Stonehenge & Avebury en route to Lacock on your first day? Just a thought ...

Steve

tedgale

Lacock is a cute and representative English village.

Bath is one of the jewels of urban architecture, a global treasure.

I know which one I'd choose!

BTW, you are also quite near Longleat House, home of the Marquess of Bath. One of the most popular stately homes in the UK. A fine Elizabethan exterior, with an interior much altered in the 19th C.

janisj

I agree w/ Steve James , I'd try to do Avebury and Stonehenge on day one.

suzski

Thanks for all the advice and tips. I went ahead and purchased 10:00 am tickets for Stonehenge for our last day so Salisbury Cathedral will be a "play it by ear" stop. Because of the timed tickets I didn't want to be committed on that day in case we had any problems on our flight in that morning.

We'll have a whole day for Bath - any suggestions for "must see's" there?