Hi Wren - I don't think you can go far wrong with either Castle Combe or Lacock - both are charming.

Castle Combe was once voted prettiest village in England (- though there are a number of contenders IMO)
http://tinyurl.com/blg7bq

Lacock is a National Trust village often used as a setting for period dramas.
http://tinyurl.com/bjst32

Accm is limited in both. There are 2/3 pubs in each. Eating out is not cheap.

Bradford-on-Avon too is an attractive base with wider choice - but is much bigger.

You could also stay at Stourhead, of course (- convenient for Dorset).
http://tinyurl.com/dmfxes

Or ... scenically the area just south of Bath (e.g. Limpley Stoke) is very attractive.

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Wrenwood writes about spending three days out of a two-week holiday in either Castle Combe or Lacock. She wants "a quaint, amazing village with good restaurants or pubs with good food, where we can walk to dinner and drink wine or beer and I don't have to drive back to our lodgings".

Either place might be satisfactory for one night, depending on how much you want to spend. However, the range of good restaurants or pubs with good food within walking distance is slight if not non-existent. If you want choice, then you have to stay somewhere larger. Bradford on Avon and Wells are possibilities, but you could also consider Malmesbury, Tetbury or Frome. Most Wiltshire towns (Chippenham, Trowbridge, Westbury, Warminster) have little to offer the discerning tourist.

Personally, I think the perils of driving in Bath are exaggerated, although it is the only place I ever got a parking ticket, due to my failure to understand the weird system then in force. There is a good bus service, and much of the accommodation is within walking distance of the centre. There is a wide range of eating places, to suit all tastes and prices, as well as gardens, a theatre, cinema and the spa. If these start to pall, you can always gawp at the other tourists. In either Castle Combe or Lacock you will wander empty streets of an evening. These are not real places - they are Disneyesque.

Having said that, we went to Lacock last week to see the snowdrops, and I bought a lardy cake. I bet you can't do that at Disneyworld.

Steve ~ Are those your pictures? Lovely! Very helpful for visualizing where one wants to go!

And I sure hope Stourhead looks like that when we are there, although maybe early October is too early for color there. We may stay there for one night when we're there, probably at Spread Eagle, I think that gives you access to the Garden when others have gone.

Fishermans House looks nice janis, I bookmarked it.

Looking at pictures of Limpley Stoke.......

Wren - Not my pictures, unfortunately. Beautiful, aren't they?

Steve

Steve, not only beautiful, but so helpful!

I think we are staying in Bradford on Avon for the first 3 days. Some better choices on where to stay, and still loads of things to do on day trips!

I even think I know where we're staying the next 3 days, but after that I'm a little lost. Time to start a new thread!

Well...................we booked a room in Bradford on Avon about a month ago, gave my credit card number etc. Then found out my sister-in-law could come, so we switched to thier self catering cottage. She put an option on the dates for me while we sorted out our flights. She then emailed me yesterday asking for confirmation, which I gave her (same day) She then emailed me that she had a booking for a full week, so she was sorry to trouble me but she took that booking instead of ours.

So...................I am back to square one, will check out Malmesbury. Any other wonderful places to base from?

I am now looking for a self catering cottage for the 3 of us. Still would love to walk to a nice pub or restaurant for dinner, but short drive okay.

Try this agency - http://www.manorcottages.co.uk They specialize in the Cotswolds but do have properties in/around Bath and do offer short breaks.

These might work for you

http://www.manorcottages.co.uk/cotta...--colerne.html
http://www.manorcottages.co.uk/cotta...m-cottage.html
http://www.manorcottages.co.uk/cotta...--colerne.html
http://www.manorcottages.co.uk/cotta...age--bath.html

Janis, great site! Can't wait to investigate it, thanks!