St. Ives, Cornwall & Drive to Gatwick
 

For May-Day Weekend, we have reservations at the Woodside Hotel in St. Ives, Cornwall: Can anyone provide first-hand information about this establishment? We will be leaving St. Ives on Monday, May 2, driving toward Gatwick, with departure from Gatwick on May 4. Can anyone recommend good places to stay enroute on the evenings of May 2 and May 3? I want to be turning in the rental car at Gatwick at about 10:00 AM on the morning of May 4.

Hi
Cornwall to Gatwick is 300 miles approx, so I assume you are taking your time over this trip to see more of England? There's so many places you could stop en route - I am sure it would help us if you told us what sort of places you like. Are you looking to stay in a city such as Bath? Or a small village somewhere? You have plenty of time to fit in a fair amount of sight-seeing. Do you like Castles? gardens? stately homes etc? Give us more info and I am sure we can all help you.

I really don't think of this as a lot of time to cover 300 miles with stops en-route; and we do want to wake-up with an easy, short drive to Gatwick on the morning of May 4. My wife and I are in our late 50's. Although we have not been in Bath, it is not high on our list of places to see. We prefer small villages and off-the-beaten-path locations and experiences. We will have been "exploring" in Cornwall the past week-end, so gardens (which are normally high on our list) will probably have slipped down a few notches. If there were some kind of local spring festival or stage performance that tourists from the US would normally not get to, that would be nice. My wife is an artist and likes to take photographs that she can use as subject matter for later paintings -- so interesting scenery and local "characters" are always of interest to us.

Although I haven't stayed at the Woodside Hotel I can give you a bit more information on the location. Belyars Lane in the "Belyars" is a very residential and non-touristy part of St Ives so you should not have a problem with parking the car which you would in other areas.

However the negative is that it is at the top of a very steep hill up from the harbour so if you have problems with walking great distances you may find this a bit of a challenge.

St Ives is very special and if your wife is an artist she will love all the galleries (try the St Ives Museum of Artists by the Sloop Gallery for the works of some wonderful local artists in addition to the world renowned Tate and Barbara Hepworth museums) and the sheer quality of the light in St Ives and I'm sure the clotted cream fudge will give you energy for the climb up the hill! I would say it is a good 15 minute walk from the harbour

Over a location to stay on the way back to Gatwick - have you thought about Salisbury? - an attractive market town just off the A303 road which I would recommend far way above the M4/M5 motorways for seeing the countryside (you pass Stonehenge for example) and also a more direct route

Ok - it's just that I would cover that distance in an afternoon/evening, but I understand you want to take it slower.
My first thought is the Cotswolds - I think your artist wife would get plenty of inspiration here, but I'm no Cotswold expert so I will leave it to others who know more about the area.
I am not sure quite what you mean by 'local characters'!! However, May 2nd is Spring Bank Holiday so there might well be Spring Fairs etc on. You might even come across some Morris Dancers! But be wary that traffic on the 2nd will be heavy on a lot of roads, especially if the sun shines.

Hi--to follow up on the Salisbury recommendation, if you do go there, we recommend the Kings Arms Hotel. The old part of the hotel dates from before the Salisbury Cathedral was built--sometime before 1500. It is said that the cathedral construction crew would drink at the hotel's pub. The cathedral itself is a site worth visiting and when one adds the wonders of Stonehenge, Salisbury is a great suggestion.

And speaking of local characters--when we were in Salisbury, we went to a pub on the river w/open air tables. There many of the locals were revelling at post football--soccer--GTGs and it was an interesting cultural experience. DH, a fan of micro brews in the USA, who just loved sampling the local taps in the UK was surprised--as was I--to see these local British young people lining up their *bottles* of Budweiser on the tables where they were drinking!!

OK - you have 2 nights here. Normally you could stop anywhere and loads of time.

However w/it being being Bank Holiday Monday, the traffic heading north and east from Cornwall, Devon and the south coast will be bad, and if the weekend is fair, the traffic will be VERY bad.

Miles long tail backs are the norm. So that first day I wouldn't plan on going too far. On May 2 I'd stay somewhere like Lyme Regis/Dorchester/Corfe Castle if you want more time on the coast. And maybe near Yeovil/Glastonbury if you want to be inland.

Then the next day you can visit Salisbury/Stonehenge/Winchester OR Lymington/Beaulieu/New Forest and then head towards LGW and stay near Horsham the night of May 3.

From St. Ives take the A30 northeast to Exeter through the Bodmin Moor (Lanhydrock or Castle Drogo are great visits if you're on the road early). A30 becomes the A303 past Honiton and just pass Wincanton prepare to turn off at Stourton for your first night at the Spread Eagle Inn. A wonderful, quirky place you'll not want to leave, particularly when 'after hours' you'll have Stourhead Gardens all to yourself. A great way to end and begin a day is to walk in the gardens. Quite magical, particularly in May. The Inn has a pub and good restaurant.

Next morning, after your walk, head back to the 303 and passing Stonehenge on the side of the road make your way to Andover. Just past Andover drop down to the A272 towards Midhurst. Alternatively you could connect to the M3, then M25 south around London, depends whether you want speed or countryside.

At Billingshurst take the A29 north (on the countryside route), then B2126 west to Forest Green. Here you'll find a B&B called Hazel's run by Suzie and John Floud. You have your own suite attached to the house, so no embarassing meetings in the hall outside the loo in the middle of the night. The B&B is set in a beautiful garden and just up the road is The Parrot, where you can have lovely dinners and great ale. The potato wedges with cheese, mushrooms, ham and a bit of sauce on them are to die for.

Next morning, although you are directly west of Gatwick, you will have to go a bit north or south, to get there.

Hope you have a great time.

Here are some website that give you more info.

On Stourhead and Spread Eagle Inn:

http://travel2.nytimes.com/2002/06/0...gdom%2FEngland

http://www.gardens-guide.com/fr_blank.htm?

http://www.gardens-guide.com/gardenpages/_0289.htm

http://www.visitsalisburyuk.com/html...=58&page=1

On Hazels at Walliswood:

http://www.specialplacestostay.com/s...FileID=gbb1626

http://www.guestaccom.co.uk/820.htm

And on The Parrot at Forest Green:

http://www.camrasurrey.org.uk/forestgreen/default.htm

http://www.procolharum.com/99/parrot.htm

We liked Salisbury too but it's really a small town, not a village.

When you're in Cornwall be sure to go to Trebah Garden (south of Falmouth). It was the highlight of our trip.