Have my schedule all set for my 3rd trip to England,except one place-found that I may have trouble fitting Winchester in. Seems like there are only 2 ways I could do it. Either I stop going to or coming back from my 3 day stay in Salisbury (hoping that Winchester has a luggage storage area while I look at the Cathedral & town or I was going to take a trip from Waterloo to Hampton Court one of my days in London, perhaps I could go out to Winchester after HC<BR>seeing that it involves the same Station? Any guidance would be appreciated.

Kelly, neither choice seems very satisfactory. Salisbury is on the Waterloo to Exeter line while Winchester is on the Waterloo to Bournemouth line. So you can’t just stop at Winchester on the way back to London. You actually have to go to Winchester, changing at either Southampton Central or Basingstoke. And I think the chance of there being a left luggage facility at Winchester, post privatization and 09/11, is remote.<BR><BR>From Hampton Court to Winchester would involve changing trains in Surbiton and maybe Woking as well, and would take about an hour and a half. I suppose this would be the more doable option - leave London to get to Hampton Court at opening, do your visit, eat a packed lunch on the trains to Winchester, stay in Winchester til after Evensong and evening train back to London

Hi ...<BR><BR>Why don't you leave your stuff at your hotel in Salisbury & either catch the train to Winchester. Best route seems to be via Southampton ... cause you can get the fast train to Southampton, & then the fast train to Winchester & then return to Salisbury the same way. <BR><BR>Other option is to catch a bus/coach to Winchester from Salisbury. Try www.gobycoach.com. Problem is you appear to have to go via Southampton, which takes about 2-3 hours.<BR><BR>How about a taxi ... more expensive ... try http://www.customerchoice.co.uk/cabnumbers.htm <BR><BR>Hope that helps.<BR><BR>Mark

You will find no luggage storage areas at Winchester railway station (in common with most others, if not all stations), not because of privatisation (they would be a source of extra revenue) or 11th September. This is so because we have had terrorism problems over the last 30 years – Northern Ireland. We in Winchester had several big IRA trials in the 1970/80s and any number of bomb scares. Also when I was living in London we were deprived of our public litterbins because of the terrorist threat. Thankfully we have had them back for about the last couple of years. Do not want to put off coming to England! I am just giving you some background. The Good Friday Agreement was signed a couple of years ago and things have calmed downed here i.e. in England (crossed fingers!!!!!!).

Further to my rather downbeat post of earlier I can give you two websites which maybe (or may not be!)of interest.<BR><BR>www.openroads.co.uk<BR><BR>www.wi nchester.gov.uk<BR><BR><BR>Cheers!!

Thanks for all the responses. My Salisbury itinerary is too tight to do it from there and I don't want to go back to Salisbury, just to get my luggage and then go to London. I think what I'll have to do is move my visit to the V&A museum to the morning before I board my plane @ 15:00 and make Winchester a day out from London, or try it after Hampton Court if I have time. Thanks again.

I'm glad we could be helpful to Kelly. In response to Local, I believe that the disappearance of left luggage facilities in smaller stations has everything to do with privatisation and 09/11. In the (good?) old days of British Rail, left luggage facilities at smaller stations were a money losing public service. Private owners no longer subsidize it. The left luggage facility at Cardiff Central closed after Sept 11, 2001 because it lacked X-Ray equipment. So now we only have the service at the very busiest stations that have the volume to justify X-Ray equipment.

Hi Kelly<BR><BR>I'm not a Salisbury hater or anything, but I keep pointing out that the only reason Salisbury is popular with international tourists is that it lies on the coach route between London and Bath. Spend your three days in Winchester, which has the most historic of Cathedrals, beautiful country side, and plenty of things to do.<BR><BR>If you are staying in Either Salisbury or Winchester for so long, I would strongly recommend renting a car. Relying on public transport will tie you down enormously.<BR><BR>Cheers<BR><BR>Spoon

Spoon - I picked Salisbury because besides being interested in Cathedrals, and I've always heard Salisbury's not to be missed-the info and pics I've seen look like a fun town to shop and poke around with some half timbered buildings etc. and good museums. All of which I like - also I'm going to Bath, Shaftsbury, Stonehenge & Avebury etc. so Salisbury seemed like a good center. Winchester- I'm having trouble getting any specific info on the town and what it's like, but I would like to see the Cathedral if possible, hear the interior is magnificent. Will do my best to get there. Thanks for advice!