Regarding crowd sizes - Sunday in mid/late October in London vs Stonehenge

You are probably here before the school half term week (for most starting on 25th October). If you are here then places are likely to a bit busier than the weeks before.

The pleasure in visiting Stonehenge in October will greatly depend on the weather. It can be calm and mild, even sunny or wet and windy as it will be towards the end of this week. If the latter is forecast I wouldn't bother at all.

Hiring a car to drive to Stonehenge would be a very sub-optimal decision for me. Getting out of the centre of London in a car can be should destroying at the best of times, especially if you are not used to driving on the left. And if it's a Sunday it might be a challenge finding somewhere open to hire from in the city. You could get out to Heathrow or Gatwick to hire but that will add at least an hour on to the start.

Where were you looking for train times? I looked at the National Rail site for Oct 26 and found several early trains from Waterloo that would get you there much earlier. For example the 0815 arrives at 0941.

As for your Sunday Roast - most places do theirs at lunch. Your choices for dinner may be more limited.

Thanks for the speedy replies!

The Sunday in question is Oct 19th.

I had looked for the earliest trains out of Victoria Station departing Sunday morning, (10.19). Evidently this is the earliest route:
9:03 AM (Sunday) - 11:35 AM (2 hr 32 min)
Walk  TrainSouthern  TrainSouth Western Railway  Bus ST
9:10 AM from Victoria
 14 min

Re: Sunday Roast... Good to know that it is generally offered at lunch.

I've read that going later in the day might, likewise, be a good option for visiting Stonehenge. If that is indeed the case, perhaps w having our Sunday Roast and visiting Salisbury Cathedral prior to taking the coach out to Stonehenge might be a decent-enough) plan?

If you want to visit the Cathedral the 0815 train, connecting into the 1000 bus to Stonehenge is the one you want. If you have 1 hour at Stonehenge that gets you back to Salisbury for 1220, (2 hours back at 1320).
The cathedral opens for visitors at 1230 (after morning service), with last admission at 1500, for a 1600 close, prior to Evensong.

So you can't really do Sunday Lunch (at a sensible time) and the Cathedral. It is either/or.

Unlike on a weekday, when there are clever ways there, no earlier arrival is possible by a sensible means from London by public transport on a Sunday. You could arrive an hour earlier by starting from Heathrow Terminal 5 at 0625 on the rail/air bus to Basingstoke then the 0804 train from Basingstoke (starts there) but that is an extreme sport. Even if you did that you would then need a taxi from Salisbury to Stonehenge as the first bus is at 1000.

EDIT- The last bus to Stonehenge is at 2pm, direct trains leave from Waterloo.

On 19 October there is overnight engineering work so the 0815 from Waterloo terminates at Andover, with a bus to Salisbury arriving at 1006. The 0915 from Waterloo is the first through train, arriving at Salisbury at 1043.

I’ve only been to Stonehenge once but it was a couple of years ago on a sunny day during the October school half term holiday. It really wasn’t that busy. Of course there are a good number of people there but not enough to cause you any problems as a visitor or make the experience unpleasant.

London on the other hand is always busy. What would you want to do on that Sunday if you stayed in London? I don’t think day of the week is going to make a huge difference to a lot of activities. The shops aren’t open until the afternoon on Sundays so Sunday mornings in central London are nice and quiet.

Thanks for sharing your experience, Helen. Good to learn that even during a optimal weather day during a "busy" time that Stonehenge didn't feel uncomfortably crowded.

If we stay in London that Sunday among the places we'd likely explore... any (several?) of the following:
The British Museum
The National Gallery
Harrods
Chinatown
Kensington Gardens
Hyde Park
Albert Memorial
London Eye

The list is vast!

I would skip Stonehenge unless you have more time to do a road trip in the area. Just going to Stonehenge could be a disappointment if you don't realize that you can now only view it by walking in a circle that is several yards away from it. I did have a chance to walk among the stones before they changed things and later taking a photo with it far in the background. We also visited Avebury and Woodhenge. I visited Salisbury Cathedral which did have an original Magna Carta. I would just stay in London which has many walks you can you do. We enjoyed visiting Threadneedle St. to view the fancy facades of the historic financial district with no traffic. There several things that are open on Sundays.

As you'll have seen from further up in the thread, transport options are always more limited on Sundays, so I would go to Stonehenge/Salisbury midweek. If you want to eat at a pub in Salisbury, I recommend Haunch of Venison, which is very atmospheric and apparently quite haunted.

We normally go to museums on Sundays (recently V&A) and they're not terribly crowded, I think you'll be fine if you stick around London.

I'm mighty grateful for the varied experiences that have been (continue to be) shared with me regarding this topic.

Cat VH - Thanks for sharing your experience with crowd size in museums, in London, on Sundays. That's a game changer!

WL

If you are craving someplace a bit out of the way (but not much) and very historic and “Ye Olde,” you could try the Bishop’s Palace in Fulham and get medieval/Tudor and more without leaving London. It’s honestly great: https://www.fulhampalace.org/ - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulham_Palace

Take the District line to Putney Bridge. It’s a pleasant 15 minute walk from the station.

And just want to echo Cat VH - Sundays aren’t terribly slammed at most/many museums/attractions.

you may have worked this out - but if not you should know that you can't necessarily take a train from the London station nearest you to all parts of the country. Train companies run into London from various parts of the country and usually only have one terminus in London.

So for Scotland and the North it is either West Coast Main Line (London Northwestern, Avanti West Coast and Caledonian Sleeper) from London Euston; or East Coast Main Line (LNER and Lumo and Grand Central) from London Kings Cross.

For the West and Oxford and Cornwall, etc., it is GWR from London Paddington or Chiltern from London Marylebone.

and so on.

So when you want to use Victoria you will get (from right to left) Gatwick Express, Southern Railway, and Southeastern. None of those go to Salisbury.

Trains which go directly to Salisbury are operated by SWR (South Western Railway) and they go from London Waterloo.

Other connections are possible but require changing onto SWR at Clapham Junction if you use a Southern service from Victoria.

On the day in question, the first connection includes a bus replacement service. So SWR from Waterloo at 8:15 as far as Andover; replacement bus service for the rest of the way, arriving at Salisbury at 10:06

The next is SWR from Waterloo at 8:35, change at Basingstoke (arr 9:26, dep to Salisbury 9:33) arriving at Salisbury 10:18, just after the first bus above.

Then the first direct service is 9:35 SWR from Waterloo arriving Salisbury 10:43....

hope that helps to understand what's behind all this

WOW! Y'all are filled with all sorts of helpful information!

Much obliged!

WL

OP: I am almost always bowled over what Nigel knows about getting around in the UK. His knowledge is encyclopaedic!!! :-)

The first direct service to Salisbury is at 0915, not 0935 (headed for Exeter)

If you take the 0935 Southampton bound train and change at Basingstoke (arrive 1026 Platform 2 to 1033 Platform 1- a train from Reading) you arrive at Salisbury at 1118.
This is NOT cross platform- use the subway or elevator.

A connection into that Reading train (departs there at 1012) leaves Paddington at 0928 (arrive 0955, headed for Swansea).

The 0915 direct calls at Clapham Junction at 0923 and the 0935 at 0945 (both Platform 9).

Connections to Clapham Junction leave Victoria at 0900 (arrive Platform 15 at 0908, an Epsom Downs Train), 0910 (arrive Platform 15 at 0917, a Dorking Train), 0916 (to Littlehampton, arrive Platform 13), 0921 (to East Grinstead, arrive Platform 13) and 0932 (arrive Platform 13 at 0938, a Brighton train)