Which one or ones have the best option for walking into the high street or main area for restaurants for dinner so driving would not be necessary if you don't mind my asking?>>

none of the villages are so big that walking into the centre is not an option so long as you are staying IN the village/town. Even T/Wells is quite walkable. The only one that is really quite strung out is Sevenoaks - if you were staying near the station, the main part of town is quite a hike and you'd probably want to get in the car or get a cab.

At the risk if incurring the ire if some posters let me Putin avotefor Eastbourne. We have stayed here many times over the years as we have friends who live here. We driven to every place mentioned by the OP and enjoyed them all, some of them 2 or 3 times. We come from Australia and love SE England
Last year we rented a 3 bedroom terrace house right near the beach at Eastbourne for a week. Fantastic! Everything we needed and wanted. It was called Serfaus Cottage.
We had all the benefits of a large town, including a variety of restaurants, transport, medical facilities, shopping etc. I highly recommend the Belgian Cafe, a great place to eat mussels.

Eastbourne ain't no Hastings! And that's a plus it seems!

Eastbourne is a primo seaside resort and a favorite of even Kent locals who flock to its many B&Bs and inexpensive hotels.

Eastbourne is a primo seaside resort and a favorite of even Kent locals who flock to its many B&Bs and inexpensive hotels.>>

Eastbourne is in Sussex. Its guest houses and hotels certainly were popular when I was growing up, mainly with people like us from the midlands for whom the seaside was a great adventure, whereas for the good people of Kent, who had plenty of their own coastline, it was somewhat less exotic.

whereas for the good people of Kent, who had plenty of their own coastline, it was somewhat less exotic>

well I was basing my comments about Kentish folk going to Eastborune from some locals from Kent - the owner of Painter;s Farm and Campground (in Painter's Forestal near Faversham), where our groups camped for many years - the two older ladies said they always went to Eastbourne and that many folk from Kent did too - Kent yes has its own beach resorts like Margate but those can be party towns IME for younger lager louts from London - the ladies said Eastbourne was so so nice - they just loved it - so some folks from Kent went to Easbourne

Eastbourne. God's waiting room.

Eastbourne. God's waiting room.>>

I thought that was Hove.

Families from Kent went to Camber Sands, Seasalter or Margate, or possibly Rye if they were posh. Now it's probably Whitstable, but 30 years ago that was a run-down town with a few charity shops and second-hand bookshops that you'd stop by only to buy a pint of oysters.

My 83 year old Mum holidays in Eastbourne. Nuff said.

A pint? I meant a dozen!

annhig has a bed sit awaiting in Eastborune I think!

annhig has a bed sit awaiting in Eastborune I think!>>

I'm not THAT old, Pal. Now, if we were talking about my mum...

So far this is my rough plan:
Near or in Tunbridge Wells - self catering - 1 week
Then drive to Winchester
Near or in Winchester - self catering - 1 week

One more question - is there any advantage or disadvantage to landing at Heathrow or Gatwick - with the above plan?

Gatwick is closer to TW, and Winchester is closer to Winchester. Gatwick is a much calmer, easier airport to transit through by far.

A bit easier w/ LGW but not enough to make difference if LHR gets a better fare.

You can easily take a train from Gatwick to Tunbridge Wells with one simple change at most and save a day or two of car rental while recovering from jet-lag.

PalenQ - that may be a good idea (not renting a car until TW).

DH - REALLY can`t cope with driving immediately after a flight - so our other alternative was to spend one night near the airport for him to recover a bit. Somehow I think TW might be a nicer place to `recover` in. I think I will look into trains from GW to TW

Thx for opinions!

semiramis - according to the trainline.com, you have to change twice to get from LGW to T/wells - once at Redhill and again at Tonbridge.


The good news is that it only takes just over an hour and the single fare is £12.

That is good news.

I am going to ask DH how he feels about doing that.