Southwest England
 

Hello all,
I'm planning to tour southwest England in mid-September for 13 days.
I'll be flying into LHR and renting a car from there. Here's my plan so far:

Week 1: I'll be staying around Southampton very near a friend who will be showing me around Hampshire. I'll have a couple days on my own initially, so i was thinking of Stonehenge, Salisbury & Winchester. I hear the stone circle at Avesbury is very nice though, so maybe that's a good alternative to SH. After this, my friend in Southampton will take over my touring for about 3 days. After that I'll be heading west to Cornwall. I thought about a northerly route on which I would stop in Bath. I'd also like to see Oxford, but perhaps that's too much to squeeze in and too far north.

Week 2: After Bath, I would like to head toward Exmoor and from there follow the coastal route all the way around to to Weymouth, before heading back to LHR.

If I stick strictly to a coastal route, I would probably miss lots of beautiful places in the interior of Devon and Cornwall, so I would appreciate any suggestions for that part of the trip specifically and any comments/suggestions on the doability of the whole trip in general.
Thanks so much,
James

I can recommend Avebury for the stone circle which is the largest in the world and pretty spectacular, plus there is a pretty village in the middle of it.

There is also Avebury Manor, a 16th century manor house and garden which was all restored in a collaboration with the BBC who made a documentary of it as it was being done. It was really interesting and interactive, you are encouraged to sit on the beds and chairs and try things out.

I think with the exploring you want to do in Devon and Cornwall heading to Oxford might be a bit of a stretch.

Annhig might see this and give you more ideas of things to see in Cornwall. I enjoyed Exeter in Devon, a lovely small city, and enjoyed driving in Dartmoor the big National Park.

It's a lovely part of England, enjoy your trip.

Take with the whole LHR, jet lag, wrong side of the road, shift stick, motorway thing. More to the point take you don't drive into me :-)

On the other hand if you are just flying in from Paris then no worries.

Oxford doesn't fit in with your itinerary. The only way to do it is by getting the train to Oxford as soon as you arrive and spending your first couple of days there. Then get the train to Southampton and meet up with your friend. She may well have Stonehenge, Salisbury and Winchester on the list of places she is planning to show you in the three days you are spending with her.

Then hire a car.

Avebury and Stonehenge are very different. Avebury is a huge circle of individual stones, where as Stonehenge is a smaller cicle with upright and capstones. Ideally plan to see both - even if it is just admiring Stonehenge from a distance (perhaps more impressive than close too). There is free access to the Avebury circele at any time. Close by is West Kennet Long Barrow, again free access at any time, which is also worth visiting.
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/v...t-long-barrow/

****Week 2: After Bath, I would like to head toward Exmoor and from there follow the coastal route all the way around to to Weymouth, before heading back to LHR.****
far to much in a week (7days?.
Suggest you stick to the so called Wessex region.
IE Bath Somerset and Dorest.
http://www.visitsomerset.co.uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ns_in_Somerset

http://www.visit-dorset.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...ions_in_Dorset

maybe add a part of the New Forest on the way back to LHR?
http://www.thenewforest.co.uk/

The New Forest is lovely ribeirasacra, good idea.

If you need somewhere to stay in the New Forest amdew717 I highly recommend The Pig.

Avebury is great, Stonehenge is great. Neither is a substitute for the other. See both, not difficult to fit both in.

You have very ambitious plans and not a lot of time. Need to cut back somewhere.

And if you are flying in long haul, don't drive anywhere the first day.

Avebury is nicer to many because you can go right up to the stones - with the sheep grazing thetre when I went but it no way should be seen instead of Stonehenge - world-famous Stonehenge, even from a roped off distance or better with special early visits into the ring I think.

PQ - you haven't been to either in this millenium . . . Right?

Wrong! Was there 4 years ago- to Stonehenge - what's your point besides sniping? My comments are in a general nature and it would not matter if I had not been there is 30 years I would say the same thing - when is the last time you were at both?

Check where your friend plans on taking you so you don't visit those places beforehand, such as Winchester and the New Forest (Buckler's Hard and Beaulieu, for example); Salisbury and Stonehenge are also fairly close.

I hear the stone circle at Avesbury is very nice though, so maybe that's a good alternative to SH. After this, my friend in Southampton will take over my touring for about 3 days. After that I'll be heading west to Cornwall. I thought about a northerly route on which I would stop in Bath. I'd also like to see Oxford, but perhaps that's too much to squeeze in and too far north.>>

Amdew - I can't work out where you are going to fit in the coast of Cornwall [very long, will take days to see] let alone the centre.

Can you post what you are doing day by day so that we can see what time you have for Cornwall? I usually recommend staying in one or two bases [eg Fowey, Falmouth, Penzance, St Ives] and using them to see both the coast and "the interior".

You need to take into account that most of Cornwall is about 100 miles from Exeter which I can tell you is at leat 90 minutes' drive from where you want to be, wherever that is.

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

Avebury in many ways a more relaxed visit sans hoards of tourists - wander amongst the stones and sheep as these images show.