Day trip or overnight by rail - thoughts on these (Alton, Bradford-on-Avon, Frome)

I'm a Wiltshire girl originally and have also lived in Somerset. Frome is a good shout. Lovely little town with plenty of independent shops and places to eat. Well worth an overnight stop and a mooch around the shops. Here's the local town website. Bradford on Avon is also pretty, although a bit less going on there than Frome. Here's their town website
Have you thought about Wells? It's got a fabulous cathedral, lots of independent shops and is simply lovely. There is a reasonably frequent bus service from Bristol Temple Meads railway station to Wells. Details here.

Wells is nice but it doesn’t have a train station which makes it a bit trickier to get to.

Frome or Bradford on Avon would be good. Not sure either has enough for the whole day. I don’t know if you can do both in one day?

Thanks, Skyegirl and Helen!
I've heard and read good things about Wells, but yes, at least for this trip, train access is a plus. I hope to see Wells on a future trip.

I'll look at the map and schedules to see if possibly visiting both Frome and Bradford-on-Avon would work. It may require an overnight to take them both in, but that would be okay.

Frome to Bradford on Avon is only 22 minutes by direct train, every 2 hours or so.

You could leave Waterloo at 0750 by direct train to Frome, arrive 1005, leave Frome at 1252 or 1452 to Bradford,

Then an hourly train back to Paddington taking around 2 hours with the last back being as late as 2225- you don't want that long a day, just showing what is possible.

There are also hourly trains back from Bradford to Waterloo, changing at Westbury.

Presumably Alton/Chawton is on your list because you would visit Jane Austen's house and museum? I think it took me less than an hour to go through it. I lived a short drive from there and I don't remember much else in Alton. Besides a little laundrette I used on weekends.

If you are in the north already, why not consider somewhere else northern rather than go back to London & then out SW? You could, for example head to Chester or even Conwy on north Wales.

Consider Canterbury - easy to get to by train and lots for to see.

Consider Sherborne , there is a nice abbey there as well as some ruins within walking distance. The High street has some good shops as well.

https://www.sherborneabbey.com/

https://www.sherbornecastle.com/

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/sherborne-old-castle/

Hard to go wrong. Bradford-on-Avon is nice, much smaller than Bath, with its University, and Arch, and High Street. Not to mention Jane Austen.

Thanks for the idea of Sherborne. I would not have thought of that so appreciate it. The more I look, I suppose Arundel is an option to consider as well. I did think about Chester...may add that back on the list of possibilities.

Thanks all for the suggestions!

The station in Arundel is not near the town.

Arundel station is not that far from the town. Station to Cathedral (about as far as you can get) is 0.8 miles.-
https://www.theaa.com/route-planner/route?from=Arundel%20Cathedral%20of%20Our%20Lady%20%26%20St%20Philip%20Howard,%20London%20Road,%20Arundel,%20UK&to=Arundel%20Railway%20Station,%20The%20Causeway,%20Arundel,%20UK

We actually have a forum member - @cwsocial- staying there in 6 weeks time, and travelling by train.

If you are unable to do the 10 to 15 minute walk use a taxi (who are based at the station)- https://www.castlecarsltd.co.uk/

Use street view and you can see that there is a pavement (sidewalk) all the way.