south west england

Visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk for a site I found useful with maps and lists and photos of historic sites and nature walks with their details and events. We did stay in a time share for a week; but frankly, it lost a lot of time retracing back to a home base. We did travel in May and it was rainy; so dress layers with and wear water resistant walking shoes. I would suggest picking a 1st stop to spend your first night less than 100 miles west of the Airport. There are plenty of B & Bs and Villages in the environs of Bath. The Cotswold area tends to be more expensive because of popular demand. Coastal places tend to book up; sometimes a year ahead. You can get some leads from the locals on B&Bs, Pubs and small Hotels and call ahead. You can also rent a Camper Van and stay in very nice campgrounds, some on Estates. Others can give you more current info. Unless a Village is in an historic preserve area it may have an industrial park or new elevated highway bypass, since I was there.

I'm sorry but the plan of visiting all those different places from one location just won't work.... Distances may not look that far on a map, but will take a lot longer to cover than you might expect. I'm taking Bath as possibly the most central point. To drive to Truro is going to take around 4 hours - and that is JUST ONE WAY! Sidmouth isn't as far, but is still, going to take around 2.5 hours one way. You are going to spend most of the time seeing England through a car window and possibly in a line of slow moving traffic too.

The Cotswolds is an area, with a lot (and I do mean a lot) of small villages.

The use of the word 'village' here is also misleading. Sidmouth is described as a town and Bath and Truro are both considered to be cities... None of them are small villages. I'm also interested as to why you've chosen these places out of all the possible places you could have picked.

You need to reconsider and plan two or even three different bases. Choose one base somewhere in the Cotswolds. There are lots of lovely small towns to choose from - Burford for example. Then possibly consider a couple of nights in Bath and spend the day 'doing' the city - there's plenty to see. Then travel to Cornwall via Sidmouth (if this is a must see) and base yourself in one of the small villages near Truro is this is a must see. There are some lovely small villages along the north coast or alternatively think about somewhere around Helston.

Alternatively scrap Truro and either do Sidmouth and South Devon/ Dorset after Bath OR chose somewhere along the north coast of Devon.

one of the things I do to create a good trip is
1) national trust sites (which poster above mentioned)
2) look at what Rick Steve's visits on his tours
3) consult with my friends what their preferences are (so say give them a list- castles, manor homes, scenic hike/spots, arts/culture) so then you can create a trip that you all will like.
4) never only spend 1 night in a location.. make it a minimum of 2 unless you absolutely must only do 1 evening. This will help you pace things better.

For me, my friend and I are 99.9% in sync about what we like to do- castles, manor homes, and some light walking or hikes with picturesque views where we don't collapse at the end of the day. Some people might find this insufferably boring and prefer to visit modern art museums or go camping.

For the itinerary above--- I would probably land in London, then immediately plane (2 hours) or train overnight to Newquay and rent a car.

I'd use Redruth as a base for this portion-
Day 1- Godrevy and St.Ives (this will take all day to throughly take in and do a hike around the area)
Day 2- Penzance, Marazion and Porthcurno (as an FYI AVOID lands end it totally sucks---!)
Day 3- Rosland Heritage coast/ Truro and/or Lizard Peninsula
Day 4- Bodmin moor /Tingatel and Port Isaac (the cute town used in Doc Martin TV show)
Day 5- LEAVE EARLY- Drive 3.5 hours to Bath-on the way visit Sidmuth (this will take all day)

Use Bath as a Base for 2 days
Day 6- Park yourself in Bath--- spend a day enjoying Bath's Roman sites
Day 7- Visit more of Bath (Bath has a lot to see so I really recommend 2 days just visiting here-

Drive to Gloucester for your next Base! I would recommend Gloucester over a village, because you will have more options in Gloucester than you would if you are trying to stay "in" one of the villages. I'm sure its feasible to stay "in" a village... I did stay in Cirencester on one trip and somewhere near but ultimately I found it inconvenient and wished I had just stayed in a larger place near a major highway).

Day 8- Drive around the Cotswolds- on the way to Gloucester (really awesome cathedral and great shakes and whatnot/food)- I'd also recommend Cotswold Wildlife Park and Gardens- its the only place I know of where you can see Rhinos grazing in front of what once was an old manor home building (go figure!).

Day 9- Cotwolds Day 3 (any areas that look interesting--- the cotswolds are really large) . Some places you want to visit are : Bourton-on-the-Water, Bibury, Burford, Cirencester, Castle Combe, Chipping Campden, Stow-on-the-Wold, Stanton. Cotwolds parking can be...interesting, so get to the popular towns early in the morning.

Day 10- Oxford- (you are so close to Oxford--its 100% worth visiting)

Like the above poster mentioned- you need to book ASAP--- get places where you can get refunded if you cancel, but book it as soon as possible.