The best town to stay in the Bath, Bovington, Winchester area?

We were fishing near Winchester a few years ago and stayed here: http://www.wykehamarmswinchester.co.uk/
Had a wonderful time. Would do it again in the drop of a hat (or fly rod).

I'll vote for renting a car for flexibility, and the fact that with 3 of you the cost of train tickets would add up. It sounds like your focus is more on the south shore, with a run up to Stonehenge. You probably know that the area around Stonehenge also has military history importance, though it's more with WWI (aviation) than WWII.

What time of year are you going? Poole is a fairly attractive town on the coast, but I think it gets pretty full of holidaymakers in the summer. One place I won't recommend, unless you're into crystals and incense and tarot card readings, is Glastonbury -- but a walk up Glastonbury Tor and a visit to the folk life museum could be enjoyable. Any reason not to make Winchester your base? It has a lot to offer and it's reasonably centrally located for the places you want to go.

Your headline mentions Bath, but it's not very near your other destinations. Are you set on going there too?

I was leaning toward staying at Salisbury or Winchester but didn’t know if something was better closer to Bovington; however, we will be in the area the first week in June so I assume it will be too cold to enjoy a beach. I only mentioned Bath because I was looking into the Mad Max Tours to Stonehenge.

I was in Poole in late July for a couple of nights. I bussed/walked to the very nice Compton Acres garden but otherwise thought the town was a combination of nondescript and tacky. I got a brief look at Bournemouth and much preferred it. Somewhat farther away I would recommend Brighton, Lewes or Arundel. Lewes and Arundel aren't on the coast.

Slapton Sands may make an interesting, if sobering, visit for an American history buff. Most people forget the disaster.

Winchester is a beautiful small city and would make a great base.

Salisbury is near Stonehenge and you can easily drive to Bovington. You could take the train from Salisbury to Bath for a day return and Portsmouth can be done by train going in the other direction. (Take the train to Portsmouth HARBOUR).

If you are driving to Bovington, you might just as well go a few miles further to the spectacular Dorset coast at Lulworth:> https://www.lulworth.com/visit/places-to-visit/lulworth-cove/

Hi,

The train goes from Winchester to Wool, where you get off, outside the station you can take a taxi to the Tank Museum, right at the front door for 6 GBP. I assuming you don't have a rental car. Wool is the nearest train stop to the Museum.

The Tank Museum itself is huge, featuring US, British, Soviet, German, and even Finnish tanks; be prepared to spend the whole day there, maybe even two days. If you are looking for a particular tank, it's most likely there, esp on WW2

If you are deeply into the war history and are in London too, I would also suggest gong to the RAF Museum in north London. (Tube stop is Colindale) From there it takes about 20 mins walk (can't remember exactly), very doable. There is also the Guards Museum near St James Park, which includes obviously the history of the Guard regiments in WW2. It is near the statue of Field Marshal Alexander.

"we will be in the area the first week in June so I assume it will be too cold to enjoy a beach."

It could be "too cold to enjoy a beach" for the whole year. :-)

Salisbury is a peaceful and enjoyable town.

I agree that the Bovington tank museum will take a full day. We stayed in Wimborne Minster which was a pleasant town with a nice minster. Winchester is one of my favorite towns and it is an easy trip to Portsmouth from Winchester. Salisbury is probably a little more centrally located.

Don't underestimate travel time. Winchester to Bovington is pretty far. It may make sense to have more than one base. There is a ton of stuff to see in this area.

I am partial to Winchester, having spent so much time there. The Wykham Arms looks like a cool place to stay, though I was always lucky enough to stay with a sister-in-law. The city, interesting enough in itself, is short train journies from Portsmouth, Southampton, the New Forest, etc., and a little over an hour from London by train when your 4 days are up.

Here is a map of the area mentioned. Play around with it to see where the places are - try satellite view. Find Lulworth Cove - well worth the walk west (steep) to Durdle Dor. If the weather is good in June - you will find people on the beaches & in the sea. Zoom down on places like Bath, Salisbury and Winchester - drag & drop the yellow man to see street view.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.0031853,-1.8550597,10z/data=!5m1!1e1

I’ve done the Mad Max tour from Bath and it was quite good. I did the full day tour which included Stonehenge, Avebury, Lacock and Castle Combe.

However, what I liked better was staying 2 nights in Salisbury and taking the local bus from the City Centre out to Stonehenge. It runs a loop all day making stops at Stonehenge on the way out and looping by Old Sarum on the way back. It is run by the local company called Salisbury Reds but the bus is called the Stonehenge Tour. It’s not a tour in the sense that it is guided. Buy your ticket from the driver and get the combo ticket including the Stonehenge entry. The driver jumps off the bus, gets the entrance tickets and you don’t have to stand in line except for the shuttle out to the stones. An audio guide is included which you pick up in the covered breezeway area of the Visitor Center.

I don’t have the experience others do with the tank museum but just thought I’d cover this part of your plan.

Thank you! Thank you! All the wonderful comments were very helpful.

I know you are already set on seeing the tank museum at Bovington, but I want to add to your excitement by saying it is one of the best military museums anywhere. Well organized with outstanding documentation of the various tanks. Enjoy!

"...one of the best military museums anywhere." How true. It is comprehensive for one reason. If you plan on looking at the book shop at length on the literature on tanks, armoured warfare, operational histories, campaigns, etc, then I would suggest 2 days, (including time for picture taking), the second time within one year is free.

Kelly,

Winchester is a beautiful city and would be a good place to consider for a "home base", although it will take a bit more than an hour each way to drive to the Tank Museum at Bovington.

There are some other sights you might enjoy visiting also.....

• the famous Winchester Cathedral (worth a visit, IMO)
• as I recall, King Arthur's Round Table is there also.
• the military museums in Peninsula Barracks, which include The King's Royal Hussars, Royal Hampshire Regiment, Royal Green Jackets (Rifles), the Gurkha Regiment and the Guardroom Museum. The Green Jackets Museum definitely has a connection to WW-II as one of their predecessors (Ox & Bucks) were with Major Howard's glider forces that took the Orne River bridges on D-Day.

As others have said, plan for a full day at the Tank Museum. If you don't mind doing more driving, you could also consider the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton - http://www.fleetairarm.com/

Kelly, if you stay in Winchester, as Ken says above, Winchester Cathedral is well worth visiting - not as striking as Salisbury from the outside, but IMO much more interesting inside. Also the round table in the castle ruins.

But, something I can't see sugested so far, Winchester College - a five minute walk from the Cathedral, you can book a tour, really interesting boys school dates back to 1382. www.winchestercollege.org.

There's also the local Jane Austen connections. But with the tank stuff, this is probably not on the agenda.

Please write a trip report of the tank museum at Bovington, I haven't been but would be interested to hear more about it.
Katy