I am in the early stage of planning a trip to Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall for maybe September or next May. I see people suggesting taking the train from London to Penzance and then driving back. With 2 weeks or so, would you stay 3-4 nights in far west Cornwall, more mid-Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, or pick maybe just 2 places and stay longer? To give you an idea of what we're looking for, we loved Aberaeron in Wales- the small seaside town, boats, easy to drive out for day trips, but good food and drink at the end of the day in walking distance.

I have the Eyewitness Travel guide "England's South Coast". It is hard to pick out seaside towns as they seem ubiquitous!

I am thinking of taking the train to Paris for 5 nights at the end of this and flying out from there. Do you have to go back to London, or can you pick it up somewhere else? And are there any real stupid mistakes I'm making with this? Thanks all.

London - Paris via Eurostar trains -only leave from St Pancras station in London - plans for thru trains from other British places never materialized - so you have to go back to London unless you want to drive to Kent then you can catch those trains from Ashford International or Ebbsfleet Int'l but would save very little time. Book tickets as soon as is possible at www.eurostar.com for serious discounted fares - same for London to Penzance or wherever at National Rail Enquiries - Official source for UK train times and timetables - www.seat61.com has great advice on doing that yourself - general info on trains www.ricksteves.com and www.ricksteves.com.

You can take a ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff, then it's about four hours to Paris by train with one change.

Or there are several routes from Portsmouth - Cherbourg to Paris is three hours with no change.

See: https://www.directferries.co.uk/ferr..._to_france.htm

If you decide to take the train from London to Paris, I would not drive to London, just take the train again. You do know about the night train? https://www.seat61.com/Cornwall-sleeper.htm

There are also overnight ferries to Oustreham (Caen) and maybe other ports - I've taken the overnight ferry - kind of neat. But really a cheap flight on Ryan Air or similar maybe cheaper than trains and ferries and of course quicker. Cheap Flights with low cost, charter and other airlines: find cheap air tickets and skycanner.net for insights on cheap flights from anywhere to anywhere. With two weeks I'd drive back to London - maybe hitting Stonehenge on way back - could return car in Salisbury and take train inton London or many suggest returning cars at Heathrow and taking tube or car service into St Pancras station - you have to go thru the entrance to Eurostar trains at least 30 minutes or so before the train so leave plenty of time.

Driving along coast via Brighton to Ashford Int'l would also be nice - hit places like Hever Castle, Battle (sight of 1066 final battle in Norman Conquest of England) and other castles and neat places.)

You can fly from Exeter to Paris and then take the Eurostar to London.

I'd suggest Lulworth as an over night stop with maybe Whareham (on the river) for another night. Do visit Dorchester, both for Charles's village but also for Maiden Castle https://www.visit-dorset.com/things-...tles-and-forts

Okay, the ferry from Portsmouth to Cherbourg and train to Paris combo is very enticing! And no, I didn't know about the sleeper train to Penzance. Thank you for both suggestions.

I'm definitely a "Far from the Madding Crowd" (book and the old movie with Julie Christie, Alan Bates, and Terence Stamp- LOL) fan, so Dorchester is on the radar. Also ancient monuments like standing stones, circles, iron age hillforts, etc. Stonehenge was on our first trip itinerary, as well as Avebury. But we haven't seen Bath, and that's also a possibility. It is just trying to figure out how to juggle all the wants with the time constraints...I would love any other suggestions, too.

If you go to Portsmouth try to make time to see Fishbourne Roman Villa nearby. There are also the boats in the dockyard....

https://sussexpast.co.uk/properties-...e-roman-palace
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

I enjoyed Lyme Regis last time I was in England, but it's hard to go wrong in the southwest.

https://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com...ut-lyme-regis/ - and following posts, links at the top of the page.

As a Far From the Madding Crowd fan then a trio to Dorchester would be a great idea. Some of the scenes with Sgt Troy & Bathsheba were filmed at Maiden Castle on the edge of the town. Hardy actually based the book in the real village of Puddletown which he called Weatherbury. You could visit Max Gate - the house he designed and lived in for 40 or so years. His birth place at Higher Bockhampton is also open to the public - both are run by the National Trust. In Dorchester itself the County museum holds a lot of Hardy exhibits, including his study and contents.

As suggested in a previous post I would try to visit Wareham and Lulworth but there is no need to stay a night in each as they are only 10 miles apart.

Both places are magical at night.

Exeter to Paris by air sounds best to me = boats at times can be delayed due to weather conditions - planes too but less so. and then you have a 3 hour train ride Cherbourg (station a bit away from dock) to Paris - flying seems easiest and perhaps cheapest way to go. Now if you want to tour around Normandy boat is great.