I'm going to stay in Salisbury for 2 nights so I can do the bus out to Stonehenge and Old Sarum. I've looked at Rick's recommendations in the guidebook and looked at the listings on TA. I'll be traveling by train so need something within walking distance so the hotels out of town won't work. I'm looking at the Cathedral View and Spire House B&Bs based on both Rick and TA. Does anyone have suggestions, comments or recommendations?
Thanks!
Unless you just have your heart set on staying in Salisbury, you can do the cathedral with the Magna Carta, Old Sarum near Salisbury, Stonehenge, and maybe Bath all on a motor coach day trip from London.
Pam
I have not stayed at either of these places but they both look good and are on the same street, within a mile of the rail station and close to the fantastic cathedral. Book rail fares 12 weeks ahead for the best deals and travel after 9.30am if possible for the cheapest fares.
Personally, I would ignore George's suggestion (sorry, George!) as to cover Salisbury, Stonehenge and Bath all in a day to and from London will mean you will barely have time to get off the coach in each location, rather than take as much time as you want in places. You can do one of these in a day trip from London properly, but not all. Accommodation in Salisbury will be much cheaper than in London for the same quality.
Take a guided tour round Arundells in Cathedral Close - the home of one of our former prime ministers Edward Heath and visit the cathedral.
Thanks to both. Sorry George, but I would never do all of those on a day trip.
The backstory: I am meeting up with a RS tour in Bath on Sunday, will spend the 2 nights before (Friday and Saturday) in Bath. I am going to be there for the Jane Austen Festival, plus I loved Bath when I went a couple of years ago and will be happy to spend as much time as possible there! Previously I have done the Mad Max tour from Bath to Stonehenge, Avebury, Lacock and Castle Combe. The RS tour does Avebury and Lacock so I did not want to do the Mad Max tour again but did want to get back to Stonehenge. I had seen about a public bus route that goes from Salisbury to Stonehenge and loops back thru Old Sarum and it looked most convenient to do that from a base of Salisbury. So, that is when I decided I would like to spend 2 nights in Salisbury giving me one full day to do the Stonehenge and Old Sarum loop and the arrival afternoon to do Salisbury Cathedral and Close area.
Jennifer, thanks for your comments and yes, I will be sure to do the tour of Arundells as well as the cathedral. I will admit that I was shocked at the low prices for lodging in Salisbury which made me wonder about them! I will try to book one or the other of them this weekend. I had taken a look at the rail fares and I might go out earlier in the day as there is a walking tour of Salisbury at 11AM I think. It had looked like I would not have to do an advanced fare on the journey from Salisbury to Bath, just walk up and buy. Would that be your recommendation as well?
Thanks for the suggestions!
If you are landing at Heathrow and not intending to go to London, you can take the coach link to Woking in order to catch a train to Salisbury. (I believe that you will find no advantage in advance booking this route. check at www.nationalrail.co.uk).
Hotel prices are considerably more expensive in London that elsewhere. Bath also tends to be on the expensive side.
Thanks James, but I will be in London for a few days before I head to Salisbury. And yes, I've run in to the more expensive lodging in Bath plus many accommodations require a 2-night stay on the weekend. That's no problem since I was planning for 2 nights anyway, lol.
We are signed up for St. Ann's House B&B and then to Bath for the tour starting in two weeks. Price seemed reasonable.
Thanks, astro_gator. I would love to know how you like this B&B! I had looked at this one too as it seemed to be in the neighborhood of the cathedral.
We stayed at Webster's BnB because it had parking which we needed, but it is a short block from a bus route and about 15-20 min. walk to the Cathedral. The hosts were beyond friendly and accomodating, the room large and comfortable, the breakfast room sunny and the food scrumptious. Their address is 11 Harkington so I checked distance to the train station, and it seems to be under 10 min./half a mile.
Pam, I think you are going to really enjoy your time in Salisbury. It's a very pleasant town and there is a lot to see in the area. If you like cathedrals, Salisbury has a gem! The tour of the tower....can't remember exactly what is called...is wonderful. You see the arches from the top, see original scaffolding, see the remarkable tower from the inside. You need tickets for this and need to be comfortable with narrow steps and some heights. We ordered tickets via the internet. The regular tours of the
cathedral are also very good.
I don't know what the bus schedule is like for Stonehenge but you might want to consider just getting a taxi. I'm sure the tourist office or your hotel could help you with arrangements. Old Sarum is just north of town. If the bus schedule is not too frequent, you could easily get a taxi to bring you back to town. We enjoyed Old Sarum. We toured it thoroughly with the English Heritage booklet on sale there.
We were at Stonehenge before the new museum. At that time, it was really worthwhile getting there early in the day. We also did the English Heritage book tour here and really poked along. By the time we left it was getting crowded but quite nice when we arrived.
We did not stay in Salisbury so I can't advise you there.
Pam,
I'll post a review on St. Ann's House B&B. We are there two nights pre-tour. What date is your tour?
Bill in SoCal
Bill, I'm set for the Sept 13 tour date.
Thanks, eef! The bus I am planning to take is http://www.thestonehengetour.info/route It runs a loop from 10AM to about 6PM with stops at Stonehenge and Old Sarum. Your ticket is good all day and if you purchase the Stonehenge entrance ticket thru them you get access without having to have a timed entrance there. I, too, was last at Stonehenge before the new Visitor Center and the trams or trolleys or whatever they are that takes you out to the stones.
I have been dithering about this accommodation for a couple of weeks and I am not sure why! I did go ahead and book Cathedral View a short while ago, got an immediate response back from the owner with additional info, then another email with attachments of a walking map from the station to the B&B, restaurants, sights, and suggested itinerary. Seems very efficient and I can leave my bag there before check-in. They do cash only, so have added a reminder to self on my itinerary to get extra money out of the ATM in London.
I thank all of you for your input! Now it seems like there is enough to see that I might need to spend a week, lol!
St. Anns B&B turned out fine for us in late May for two nights. Price seemed quite reasonable. The room was quite small, but the breakfast was very good and the staff very helpful.
We did two services at the Cathedral and the Stonehenge/Old Sarum bus trip and had a great start to our UK visit. Stonehenge was crowded on a Saturday, but better than I expected. The small and low rope "barrier" allows good photography and creates a large circle that thins out the crowding. The museum was excellent. Cafe was crowded with a bad layout for queueing on a busy day.
Bill in SoCal
Bill, thanks so much for the update. Glad it was a good start for your visit! Good to know about the cafe, so I will probably take stuff for a picnic lunch altho I will be going on a Thurs in Sept.
Hi Pam, I wish I could recommend The Rectory but the owner has closed. I'd like to recommend- if you enjoy Michener-type sagas books - the tome called "Old Sarum" by Edward Rutherfurd. It will bring visits to the Salisbury Cathedral and Old Sarum to life.
We stayed last month at the Best Western Red LIon in Salisbury and it was a couple of blocks walk to the cathedral. The hotel is a very old coaching inn.
HI Pam,
My husband and I spent 2 MARVELOUS nights at the Cathedral View B&B this past May. We think you will LOVE it!!! Steve and Wenda, the proprieters, are so wonderful. They make you feel right at home, giving you instructions about how to get to different places, where to eat, and stories about the town. The breakfasts are amazing....Steve makes all of their breads, Wenda makes the most marvelous poached eggs. Our room was extremely nice as well. This was the best B&B of all the 5 ones we stayed in this May.
I would highly recommend booking a tower tour of the Cathedral (unless you don't like stairs or heights). It tells you all about the building of this amazing place, but the greatest thing to us was seeing the innerds of how the Cathedral was built. You are actually INSIDE the Cathedral. WOW!! It was trememdous!! We had a marvelous dinner at 'The Cloisters' and also at 'The Old Mill'. Walking around the Queen Elizabeth gardens and the Water Meadows are also wonderful.
We had a great day trip out to Stourhead Gardens and Stonehenge.....but we had a rental car.
ENJOY your stay with Steve and Wenda!!
Regards,
Virginia
Thanks Virginia! As it happens I stayed at Cathedral View in early Sept for 2 nights and so agree with you. Steve and Wenda are excellent hosts. The bread was wonderful! I had a room on the 2nd floor in the front which I thought might be noisy after I saw the amount of traffic on the street but was pretty quiet.
The 2 nights in Salisbury worked great as well. I really enjoyed the bus out to Stonehenge with the Old Sarum stop on the way back. The cathedral was great (did not do the tower as I don't do heights) and loved Evensong there. I also saw a wonderful exhibit of JMW Turner's work of the area at the Salisbury Museum. You get a discount if you are staying at Steve and Wenda's.
All in all a really excellent visit.
To those of you recommending Salisbury as a day trip from London, would I have enough time to see the cathedral(but not the tower-I don't like heights), museum, Intro to Salisbury video, and Old Sarum(but not Stonehenge) without rushing if I took a train from London at 8:30 AM? Any idea when the last train back to London leaves from Salisbury? How long to allow for bus transport to Sarum and back? Husband will attending meeting in London so London lodging is free. Thanks for the help.
lyndlamb, you will get more responses if you post your question as a new topic/question here in the England forum.
Lyndlamb, I will say the public bus on the Stonehenge route runs a one-way loop going first to Stonehenge then back around via Old Sarum so go to the website for the bus and you will see the arrival and departure times. Leaving Old Sarum you can wait for the special bus or you can raise your arm to flag down any Salisbury Red bus (going in the right direction) and they will stop.
You could also take a taxi to Old Sarum as it is only a couple of miles. You can easily see the cathedral spire from the fortifications.
Go to the National Rail site for the times on the trains.
The cathedral took me a couple of hours. I did the free tour of the nave and choir area with a docent then spent time in the Chapter House seeing the Magna Carta. They do charge to tour the cathedral but nothing extra for the Magna Carta.
If you take the train that leaves around 830 you can do the walking tour of Salisbury that leaves from the Visitor Center at 11 as well.
