Hello to those who know much more than we!

So, going on a short trip to England and have only ever visited London. The plan is to land and train it somewhere south (Crawley, Farnam, Ashford?) to pick up a car, but that is as far as we have gotten. Here is what we do not want to do: spend time in cities, bedroom communities, or shopping.

We would like to find two home bases for three days or so each, to sample historical architecture, villages, churches. Some hiking, but not a 'hiking holiday'. Tentatively, we were looking at 3 days in Kent (driving distance to East Hastings and Canterbury, etc.) and then three days somewhere west of these (maybe somewhere within South Downs?).

So, without too much driving around, we are looking to taste the flavour of England south of London. Does anyone have any tips about what home bases would be ideal?

Thanks!
Jan.

Tunbridge Wells I found a nice city and would make a nice base for many Kent sights - Canterbury and its cathedral; Chilham - a castle town near Canterbury - Hastings area - like Battle - small town where the Battle of 1066 was culminated in the defeat of English Saxons and brought in the Norman Conquest - battlefields still there dominated by a romantic ruined Battle Abbey

and Hever Castle girlhood home of Anne Bolyene is a charmer as is The Knole, a large stately houses at Seven Oaks.

Pilgrim's Way is both a path a points and a narrow one lane road with "passing points" that goes to Canterbury - drive it for a real rural Kent feeling.

Tunbridge Wells or really Royal Tunbridge Wells once was a famous watering hole for the rich and famous - you can still taste the waters that made it famous - but today a sweet sweet leafy regional town with large parks and a thriving shopping district.

https://www.google.com/search?q=tunb...=1600&bih=1075

You say you are going to land an take a train to the SE -- not if you are arriving at LHR. No trains anywhere but to London. So you'd have to train into Paddington and then cross all of London to get to Victoria or St Pancras or another station depending on where you are eventually headed. It would be cheaper and easier to take the tube to your London departure station

Are you arriving at LGW by any chance -- that would be entirely different.

Tunbridge Wells wouldn't be my choice -- not bad but pretty far east for the Kent bits. and too far east for the South Downs etc. If you want two bases -- For Kent I'd pick somewhere in the Sissinghurst/Ticehurst/Tenterden triangle. They do B&B right AT Sissinghurst and that would be marvelous if you could get in (Very popular)

For your western leg somewhere around Midhurst . . . But I also consider traveling even farther and staying in the New Forest.

However - there is soooooooo much to see/do in Kent and East Sussex you really should consider staying all 6 days in one base in mid Kent as a base to cover everything from Hever, to Chartwell, Penshurts Place, Knole, Sissinghurst, Scotney Castle, Canterbury, Dover, Deal, Walmer, Port Lympne, Rye, etc etc etc etc . . .

From Heathrow you can take the Air Bus to nearby Feltham train station and catch trains to Waterloo- walk to adjacent Waterloo East and get rail links to all of Kent and SE England - no need to traipse all across London - I also like places farther east in Kent/Sussex like the cute town of Rye, a real charmer.

>>but pretty far east for the Kent bits<<

Oops that should say . . . but pretty far <B>WEST</B> for the Kent bits . . .

>>no need to traipse all across London - <<

Feltham to Waterloo is all across London.

Your problem is that the pretty bits of SE England are slap bang in the middle of Europe's richest, most densely populated and most infrastructure-poor region. They're tricky to get to by public transport from outside Europe, and it's the height of irresponsible stupidity to try driving to them after an overnight flight.

The easiest way of getting to ROSEland (Rest of the South East) from outside Europe is to fly to Gatwick, which is a significant rail hub (map at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/static...South_East.pdf), has decent prebooked car transfers to places like Tunbridge, and is an OK hub for medium-distance bus transfers (map at http://www.gatwickairport.com/conten...routes_map.pdf)

The most direct southbound public transport from LHR to ROSEland is the Railair bus to Woking for trains to towns slightly SW of London, like Winchester and around the New Forest. The second best option is the tube to St Pancras, then the high speed trains to Kent shown on the rail map I've indicated above.

The third is the bus to Gatwick.

The medium-distance LHR bus map at http://www.heathrow.com/file_source/..._Coach_Map.gif is slightly inaccurate (there are buses to Southampton, for example), but it illustrates how poorly LHR is located for transfers to the eastern bits of the SE.

The Feltham/Waterloo connection really isn't suitable for what you've got in mind. Getting to Feltham's a pain, and most destinations served from Waterloo are more easily reached via Woking. The link is really a way of getting to a few parts of London's suburbia - but it's never really achieved even that.

In your shoes, if LHR is essential, I'd go via Woking to Winchester or Brockenhurst, have fun without a car for a few days, then pick up a car to drive to Kent and drive it back, unjetlagged, to LHR.

Another alternative might be to get the tube from LHR to St Pancras, then a high speed train to a Kent town: for anywhere pretty (like Rye), this does mean a second change at Ashford. Have fun in Rye or wherever without a car, then pick one up at Ashford (there's a car hire depot at the station), drive west to (say) Midhurst, do your thing then dump the car at LHR.

You do not say what your interests are but here area few suggestions.
Arundel.
http://www.arundelcastle.org
Walk all or part of the south downs way.
http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/south-downs-way
Winchester.
http://www.visitwinchester.co.uk/
The lovely and historic Wallop Valley to the north of Winchester. Sorry no one website covers this area.

Looks like SE England to me. Have a look over in Hampshire (still a bit as Flanner describes, but the New Forest and good walking from say Lyndhurst down to Lymington or even Dorset, though again public transport poor. (Jurassic Way), along the chalk ridges etc, Poole to Blandford makes for a good hike.

For some flavour, you might read my trip report:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...of-england.cfm

For us, North Devon was a revelation.

Following on from flanner's information:

You will likely be pretty corked after the overnight flight - so a potential option would be the LHR > LGW express coach and just book a hotel at LGW for the first night. If you you feel decent you can take the train into London for a look-see, or down to Brighton to walk around. Then back to LGW to sleep off the jet lag. Pick up your car the next morning and head out.

Just another option . . .

***For us, North Devon was a revelation.** Having family there and having worked there it is funny what you can take for granted. Still beautiful all the same.
I feel that for a six day trip this part of of the UK should be left for a longer time period.

For another visitor's perspective, we spent a couple of lovely days in old town Hastings --distinct from the more modern city-- staying at Swan House, which I can highly recommend.

Loved Winchester and Canterbury, staying in b&b's.

We found all very walkable; also went to all with public transportation (trains and occasionally a taxi from train station).

I've stayed at the Swan House Hotel too - run by two lovely guys - Brendan is one - sadly I cannot recall the name of the other. Lovely rooms and one of the best breakfasts I've ever had at any B&B anywhere. Hastings has some really grim bits but if you manage to stick to the old town proper with its bohemian cafes, cheesemongers, antique shops and so on it's a really nice area.

I based in Hastings too and used trains to go all around - Battle is just a short trek north.

I know when I recommended Hastings before as a base however some British experts pooh-poohed not only that as a base but Hastings itself - I actually thought it had a lot of character and uniqueness but may not be the optimal base for sights in more central-east Kent/Sussex - depends however if you have a car or going by train or bus.

I think one concern is the modern/rough Hastings as opposed to the old town Hastings.

Anyway Swan House is awesome and right in old town Hastings.

Sevenoaks [i used to live about 20 mins drive away] makes a good base for the whole of the SE and there are good connections out of London from Charing Cross [connect from Paddington via the circle line] and Cannon Street.

From there it is easy to get to Canterbury in the east and anywhere else in an arc from Rye to Brighton. T/Wells makes another great base but would take slightly longer though just as east as the trains are on the same line as the Sevenoaks ones. There are also numerous B&Bs you could stay in or even YHA hostels.

with 6 days, you could see a lot of the area but by no means all of it, as there is loads to see: lovely Kentish villages like Goudhurst and Cranbrook, gardens like Sissinghurst and Chartwell, coastal resorts like Rye and Hastings.