Southern England Guidebook

Not sure if you can still get things from Tourist Offices in Southern England, but that's who sent me detailed information several years ago (actually it was for southeast England).

Hi Kay, I live in southern England so I've never looked for a guide book for the area; but Lonely Planet has one for Great Britain. You could try having a look at a map of the area you're thinking about and then Google each town or city for links.
For example www.visitbournemouth.com. Good luck and if I see anything in the book shops today, I'll let you know.

In addition to a guidebook for Great Britain, Lonely Planet has one limited to England. LP also has a guidebook specifically for Devon, Cornwall & Southwest England.

"England, The Rough Guide" published by Rough Guides would be a good choice for you. You may not use but one third of the book, but it's a very thick and thorough book. IMHO, they cover southern England better than most other books. In the part of the book you will be reading, each chapter covers a small section of southern England, and starts off the chapter with a very good regional map. They are very thorough about landmark properties, attractions, food and lodging in each area. Full page maps, given of each major town, are good enough that you can use them as a walking guide. The book is not very expensive. Also, the pages are lightweight paper so the entire book doesn't weigh much to carry around. I spent many years working in the book publishing business, so I am amazed they were able to make this book lightweight. This is a good book if you will be seeing all of southern England, from Cornwall to Dover. If you are mainly interested in Cornwall & Devon, Tim's suggestion of the Lonely Planet regional guide that covers only that area would be the way to go. It is small and can fit in a large jacket pocket easily.

Thanks for your suggestions everyone. Naturally, I have RS's book for England but there isn't quite the detail I was hoping for in southern England. The book Tim suggested doesn't cover the area I'm going so I'll get a copy of the Rough Guide.