Thanks for the clarification.

Some thoughts...

Leicester to Oxford is a very easy drive, even off the motorways, and you'd see some pleasant countryside on the way, you could even cut across from Banbury to Chipping Norton, Stow-on-the-Wold and Burford if you wanted to see a bit of the north Cotswolds.

If you choose Oxford instead of Cambridge, then Avebury is not that far - about 30 miles if you go via Wantage, Hungerford and Marlborough, all nice enough typical English towns. Marlborough would be the most attractive. It's a nice drive too, through the Berkshire downs.

If you then travel back along the A4 to Newbury it is a very easy run down the dual carriageway A34 and M3/M27 to Portsmouth. Probably only an hour from Newbury.

I suggest you get hold of a good road map of Britain and you will be able to plan a bit better.

Have a good trip though!

Avebury.

Since everyone else has mentioned distances, I thought I would just throw in about town driving and parking. Once you determine which towns you will be visiting, you need to check out how they handle traffic. Don't expect to be able to drive through a town just because a map shows the road and don't expect to find parking easily. Sometimes the available parking can be a bit of hike from where you want to go.

Thanks, julia_t, that sounds like a good itinerary. And thanks to everyone for your advice.

Hey, speaking of advice, do you think it will be hard to find places to stay on the fly? We'll be there on a Thursday to Wednesday so I was thinking we could do it.

&quot;<i>We'll be there on a Thursday to Wednesday</i> Are you sure? You originally mentioned Aug 13 - 17, which is Sunday to Thursday.

If you ARE there Thurs to Wed it includes a weekend -- in <u>August</u> plus you're going to need family rooms. I would defnitely book ahead for at minimum Fri/Sat/Sun

Sorry, I meant Sunday to Thursday (4 nights). Thanks for catching that. Do you think it would be hard to find, say, a B&amp;B on those nights? I found in traveling around Austria and Germany that it didn't seem to be a problem to find a room, especially in some of the less well known towns. And I like the flexibility.

Thanks.

If you do leave it to chance you may not find anything particularly special as it will already be booked up.

However if you are not too choosy there are always the following which are all over the place nowadays, and you shouldn't have any trouble getting a room in one of these. For locations see the websites...

www.travelodge.co.uk

www.premiertravelinn.com

You may also see B&amp;B's along the road with signs out 'Vacancy' or 'No Vacancy', particularly in the smaller towns and villages.

Most towns have a Tourist Information office which will have lots of details of places to stay in the area, and in small villages ask in the Post Office, village shop or pub.

Personally I would think you would be OK finding accommodations as you are not near the coast or in particularly 'touristy' areas, and I would do it, just don't have too high expectations. I would try to find something in advance if aiming to stay in Oxford or Portsmouth though.

If you google the words 'tourist information' followed by the name of the town, you get links to lots of potentially helpful sites.