What to see around Southampton?

[phabric]

We will be renting a car from LHR and driving to Southampton for 2 1/2 days before a cruise. We plan on using Southampton as a base and go from there.

 

Last year, we went to the National Car Museum in New Forrest and Portsmouth. We really enjoyed both places.

 

Any suggestions on what to do?

[HeinBloed]

We will be renting a car from LHR and driving to Southampton for 2 1/2 days before a cruise. We plan on using Southampton as a base and go from there.

 

Last year, we went to the National Car Museum in New Forrest and Portsmouth. We really enjoyed both places.

 

Any suggestions on what to do?

 

We did Bath, Stonehenge...

 

A good source:

 

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/

 

and

 

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-index.htm

 

Here we always find something interesting we would like to discover.

 

Regards

HeinBloed

[John Bull]

We will be renting a car from LHR and driving to Southampton for 2 1/2 days before a cruise. We plan on using Southampton as a base and go from there.

 

Last year, we went to the National Car Museum in New Forrest and Portsmouth. We really enjoyed both places.

 

Any suggestions on what to do?

 

If motor museums are your thing, here's a couple more, very different but excellent in their own way.

 

http://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/#axzz0xR656jfu

Brooklands was the birthplace of British circuit racing, built 1907, closed in the 1930's. The clubhouse & other original buildings house mainly historic racing cars & memorabilia. Very little of the track remains, but does include a large part of the incredibly-steep banking. Brooklands was also an airfield, & there are many aircraft on display, including the prototype Concorde.

The staff are mainly volunteers & the place is home-spun compared to Beaulieu, but none-the-worse for that.

It's near Heathrow, & just 7 miles off the route to Southampton.

 

http://www3.hants.gov.uk/milestones

This is a fairly new government-run museum, rather smaller but well worth an hour or two, & extremely well laid-out in tableau/street/shop/workshop form. It documents life in the late 19th/early 20th century, the accent is on vehicles & machinery (its base was the collections of the steam waggons/machinery built by the well-known local firms of Tasker and of Thorneycroft), but it's much broader & covers life in general.

It's at Basingstoke, halfway between Heathrow & Southampton & a couple of miles off your route (junction 6 of the M3 motorway)

 

In Portsmouth & the Nat Motor Museum/New Forest you've already visited two of my top recommendations.

For other places you might want to explore within an easy drive of Southampton, consider:

Winchester (historic city/cathedral).

Salisbury (historic city/cathedral) plus Stonehenge plus Old Sarum.

Eastwards, beyond Portsmouth to:

Chichester (historic city/cathedral) plus http://www.wealddown.co.uk/home-page-english.htm plus http://www.sussexpast.co.uk/property/site.php?site_id=11

Beyond Chichester to:

Arundel (historic town plus castle plus cathedral) plus http://www.amberleymuseum.co.uk/

Beyond Arundel to:

Brighton (about 90 mins from Southampton)

Westwards to:

Poole (harbour) about plus Corfe Castle plus Lulworth Cove/Durdle Door/Weymouth/Jurassic coast to West Bay, nr Bridport, about 90 mins from Southampton.

Possibly tie in with the world's best tank museum at Bovington http://www.tankmuseum.org/ or the nearby http://www.monkeyworld.org/site.php

both about an hour from Southampton.

I hesitate to suggest the Isle of Wight, as ferry rates for cars are quite high.

 

Check out these places & come back for any more detailed info, or give us an idea of where your interests lie (countryside, architecture, ancient history, sports, etc)

 

John Bull