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Itinerary thoughts for June 2018: London, Dover, Winchester, Bovington and Bath

Posted by (Kansas) on

Hello. My husband and son like WWII site so their top priorities outside of London are tank driving school just outside Winchester, Tank Museum in Bovington and non-WWII Stonehenge. If there is time, we want to see the tunnels at Dover Castle. We are seasoned travelers (pack light) and have driven in Ireland and France. We like fast pace itineraries so here is my rough idea for a 10 day trip:
Day 1-5 London
Day 6 - train to Dover for Castle (WWII tunnels); rent car and drive to Winchester (2.5 hrs); night in Winchester.
Day 7 - Tank Driving School in morning, drive 1 hour to Bovington to visit Tank Museum. Could stay night or drive 1 hour to Bath.
Day 8-10 Bath with Mad Max tour to Stonehenge and flight home from Bristol

Questions about Dover: should we skip Dover? OR make it a day trip from London (by train or tour company?) OR leave it as planned, if so, how to get to the Castle from the train station? Are there tricks to avoid lines for the tunnels? Is a car rental place close? Rick Steve's doesn't cover Dover so I feel lost.

I can't find any details about the Tank Driving school so I hope they have half-day sessions.

Portsmouth is close to Winchester and Bovington so the D-day Museum looks interesting. We are not interested in the shipyard. We could come her after Tank Driving School and stay night. The next day, drive to Bovington for Tank Museum and on into Bath.

Bath seems pretty straight forward thanks to Rick Steve's guide.. Thoughts about flying out of Bristol? Air fare to Kansas City was the same whether it was round trip to Heathrow or Heathrow/ Bristol.

Last thought, the trip could be done in reverse. I thought it would be better to be in London on the weekend and travel southern England during the week.

Thank you for all your advice in advance!
Kelly

Posted by
449 posts

Hi Kelly:

The Juniper Leisure tank driving school (as it was called in 2014) in Winchester has a morning session and an afternoon session. I see on their current web page that they are now using a Stormer armored personnel carrier instead of an all terrain vehicle as the fourth vehicle for their class. This one looks like a tank (as does the self propelled gun) so there should be plenty of interesting photographs of your husband and son.

Geor(ge)

Posted by
2599 posts

You can’t fly from Bristol to Heathrow. Most people would go by train from Bristol/Bath to Reading and then coach link into Heathrow. No trans-Atlantic flights operate from Bristol. Some people fly from Bristol to Dublin in order to catch a trans-Atlantic flight.

Posted by
233 posts

The tank museum on Bovington is worth easily a full day. I was there about 6 months ago for a full day and there were still things I didn't see.

Do check their website to see if there are any tank running events going on while you're there.

Do you have any interest in submarines? There's the sub museum in Gosport. As you're in Portsmouth it would be easy enough to pop in for the afternoon after your tank driving experience. Then get to Bovington as early as you can on the next day.

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