Need Ideas for Southampton and Bristol and Vicinity

John, Rye is lovely. There is an old(ish) PBS series, Mapp and Lucia, much of which was filmed in Rye. The South Downs Way, of course is a famous path and the one to which Rick refers. Having been to Cornwall you are familiar with the Cornish Coastal Path. Harthill...the one in Scotland?

Here is a list of the National Trust paths in the South East http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-visits-walks/w-visits-walks_london-and-south-east-2.htm and the official Hampshire Tourist site. http://www.visit-hampshire.co.uk/ The New Forest is on your doorstep and do take a trip over to the Isle of Wight. You can buy a bus rover ticket and use it to travel around the Island. Maybe stay overnight? http://www.islandbuses.info/tickets02.shtml My favourite site on the IOW is Osborne House where Queen Victoria retired into self imposed exile after the death of Prince Albert. It is very much a famiy home rather than a palace and the grounds are beautiful. http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/osborne-house/ Also on the IOW is Brading Roman Villa http://www.bradingromanvilla.org.uk/ and the Dinosaur Museum. http://www.dinosaurisle.com/newhomepage.aspx Bear in mind that it will be peak holiday time so places will be busy.

Thanks Laurel and Linda. More ideas are still welcome here!

John, try Winchester for a day trip from Southampton - not on your comprehensive list above! Look at visit Winchester website and print off a map. Very compact, railway station near to everything. There are 3 must-sees IMO. The old castle ruins, which has a great hall with "King Arthur's round table" - only a short stop here, then the cathedral (which altho' doesn't look as good on the outside is much more interesting inside - tours are good), also Winchester School here you have to take a tour. Lots of pubs and restaurants for lunch in vicinity.

Thanks Katy. Winchester is indeed high on my list since it is easily doable from Southampton and I do like to visit the great cathedrals and the historical towns they are in. Hastings is high on my list because we have watched all of the available episodes of FOYLE'S WAR. The main character is a Hastings detective doing his work during and after World War 2. The historical research for that series is amazing. Every episode is not only a great detective story but also a history lesson. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foyle%27s_War http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/foyleswar/

John, if you do go to Winchester, have lunch at the Willow Tree Inn on Dungate Terrace. Any taxi driver will know where it is. Good food and very prettry location.

There is also th New forest if you want to get into some quiet out of the way places near Southamton. I believe you will need a car for this part

Thanks so much for all the help. I really appreciate it. I will have a car part of the time and use the train on other days. So now I need to decide when its best to have a car and when its best to take the train. Something like this: Isle of Wight - car New Forest - car Portsmouth-car Winchester - train Brighton - train Hastings - train Rye - train Public Path - car Bristol - car (already rented for this trip due to Mary's research needs) Wells - car or train?
Glastonbury - car or train? I have been to Bath, Salisbury, Stonehenge, Avebury, Cornwall, Canterbury, Dover and The Cotswolds. Although the Cotswolds definitely deserves more time. But we will be back!

John, just realised that Lacock is not on your list. A village and abbey mostly owned by the National Trust. About 20 miles east of Bristol. Most recent claim to fame used as a location in the Harry Potter films.
Can't comment on whether to take car or train to the various location, except for Winchester where the railway station is within a short walk of everything you would be likely to want to see.

We did the Mad Max tour in March 2009 and saw beautiful Lacock, had lunch there and walked around. Really liked the church which promoted progressive causes. Took pictures where a scene or 2 of Harry Potter was filmed. It was the stop between Avebury and Stonehenge.

car v train. Most of the areas you list are easy by car, although i dont disagree with any of the ones you pan on train. Lacock is about a 10 minute public bus ride from Chippenham, otherwise you will need a car. The busses seem to run fairly frequently past the village. winchester definitely train is convenient- about a 10 minute walk from the station to town center. Wells I would take a car. You probably want to spend most of your time at the cathedral