Southeast England
 

We will be leaving Sandwich by car to spend 3 or 4 days in the Southeast before flying out of Gatwick. Any suggestions of places of interest?

Oh my - there are soooooo many things to see and do in the SE. Give us some idea of what sorts of things you enjoy.

A short list would include: Canterbury, Deal Castle, Walmer Castle, Dover, Sissinghurst, Scotney, Bodiam, one of the narrow guage railways, Hever, Chartwell, Knole, Penshurt Place, Igtham Mote - and a hundred other places.

Don't forget: Rye, Lewes, Virginia Woolf's house, her sister's nearby Charleston farmhouse.....

Some more possibilities: Leeds Castle, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, Bosham, Battle, Brighton.

There's quite a bit to see in this area. If you told us what you're interested in (and when you're going to be there), we could filter our recommendations.

You could spend weeks in south east England. We stayed in Rye, and just loved the place. There are so many things to do & see, eg. Hever Castle, Bodium Castle,etc,etc.

I would suggest Dover Castle, Canterbury, Hever Castle, Chartwell and Rye. If you're into antiques then Sandgate, between Folkestone and Hythe, is a good place to go.

That would cover 3-4 days at a leisurely pace. As you're driving, make sure that you get a good map and avoid all motorways and main roads, stick to the country lanes wherever possible and you'll come across some utterly charming villages and beautiful countryside.

I may be biased as I grew up in Kent (in Canterbury), but it really is a beautiful part of the world.

Don't forget East Anglia with its beautiful villages and interesting coast

We stayed at Torquay for weeks in the summer. It's a beautiful English town on the beach with very nice shopping areas!
Day trips from Torquay could be so much fun too! go Plymouth or wooky hall caves, or even Bath which a little further than Plymouth and the surrounding towns.

Have fun, and happy travels!

Torquay may be loved by mnss but it is the southwest not southeast. It is about 250 miles from Sandwich.

oops yea I was talking about the south west which I know very well.

We spent a week in Kent renting a cottage in Tenterden for a base. Our favorite site in the area (we are history lovers) was Battle Abbey in Battle. This is the site where the "Battle of Hastings" took place in 1066. A great walking tour with audio. A near second was Bodiam Castle - one of three castles which still has a moat around it. These two can easily be done in one day.

Other favorites, Canterbury and Dover castle.

Another thing we did for a day was drive to Folkstone and take the Chunnel, with our car, to France and on over to Brugge, Belgium. This was a lot of fun and a great experience.

If interested, the name of the cottage we rented in Tenterden was Quince Cottage. Even though we didn't stay all 7 days, it was cheaper than staying in hotels. Do a google search for the name and you can find it. The owners are great and we look forward to returning.