Bath Travel Forum

Hi everyone,We will be leaving London with a hire car and will have 2 days/2 nights to get to the ferry port in Fishguard. We have booked a nights accomodation in Lacock Village and will 'play it by ear' for the second night - probably end up somewhere not too far away from Fishguard. My problem is I have researched the area a bit and have come up with a few places I would like to visit but am unsure what order to do them in, and whether we'll even be able to fit everywhere in in just 2 days. Could anyone give me any idea what sort of order we should try to do them in? bearing in mind that we do not necessarily need to spend long periods of time in any one spot.
The places I like the look of are: Stonehenge, Bath, Lacock Village (don't need to be here until late in the afternoon on the first day) Bradford on Avon, Avebury, Castle Combe, & Upper/Lower Slaughter. We don't want to go on tours or look through castles or anything just basically drive through with maybe a stop for a little walk around and a drink. Is any of this possible, I would appreciate your advice, regards, Michele PS Time of visit is 6th - 8th September

Stonehenge (stop for 5 minutes - don't pay to go in!!!)
Bradford-on-Avon (have morning coffee here)
Bath (have lunch here)
Castle Coombe (have afternoon tea here)
Lacock (night one)

Avebury (have morning coffee here)
Upper Slaughter (have lunch here)
Night two near Fishguard

Best wishes,
Martin

Hmm......seems daft to go to Stonehenge and not Avebury on the same day, as the latter is only a few miles from the former.

Suggest you do Castle Combe, Stonehenge briefly (through the fence), then Avebury, then Bradford then Bath for the night. Next day explore the Cotswolds a bit, taking in Bourton/Slaughters etc before onward to Fishguard. This is do-able, especially with an early-ish start on the first day. The journey from the Cotswolds to Fishguard is going to take 3 hours+ though, so allow for this.

http://www.theaa.com/travelwatch/planner_main.jsp?database=B

will give you printable detailed point-to-point routes, with traffic blackspots, distances, timings, etc.

However, there's no point in just 'driving through' places like Avebury though. Honestly. You do need to stop for a while, even if it's only an hour or so. And there's absolutely no point in just driving through Bath; you'll spend the whole time negotiating traffic and finding your way. So allow yourself a little time to stop at each place (your driving will be safer for it anyway).

Please note that:

Stonehenge to Avebury is 25 miles.
Lacock to Avebury is 14 miles.

Thank you both for your help, it makes it a lot easier to plan having people who know the area to help me.If you ever need info on Australia I'm happy to help. You mentioned just looking at Stonehenge 'through the fence' will that be enough to get the feel that we've been there?
I can't wait to visit this area I wish we had more time there it looks so beautiful, it is about the half way mark of an around the world trip, maybe we'll like it so much we'll come back another time.
thanks again, Regards, Michele

Hi,

From my observation the general consensus on this site for Stonehenge is 'don't bother' and I share this view. However, if you are coming all this way, you may as well 'see it'. With the limited time you have, I would say that a further hour relaxing in Bath or at Castle Combe is more valuable than an hour at Stonehenge. If as you arrive you feel it is a place you want to walk around, then it won't be too late to park up (there is an adequate car park) and pay the £7 (approximate) per head to get in.

Your timing is excellent generally as school holidays will just be coming to a close but some workers will still be on holiday, so roads during normal rush-hours should be quieter and tourist sites won't be as busy as August.

Generally you will need £1, 50p, 20p and 10p coins to pay for parking. You could cash some notes at Burea de Change or in any bank/post office (they tend to open 9:30 to 4:30 approx). Do check parking signs carefully as parking fines can be very severe and can include your car being towed away.

If you want to e-mail me from my profile with your external e-mail address, I will gladly e-mail you with maps to show you the best places to park at each location and other information.

Best wishes,
Martin

Thank you Martin, I have in fact emailed you privately (which you probably know by now) the tip about the coins for the parking was something I hadn't thought of - thank you. I would also be grateful for any maps that may be of use. Regards, Michele

Going to Stonehenge and looking at it through the fence is a bit like looking at a photo of Ayres Rock instead of appreciating it in all it's glory.
The entrance fee to Stonehenge might be a bit steep but when else are you going to get the chance to go see it again? It may be a 'once in a lifetime' chance and it will only take a couple of hours to visit, so dig deep in your pockets and see it close up, I have been to see it twice and think it was worth every penny.
When you consider than 3000 years ago, stone age people built it with 25 ton blocks of stone quarried 100 miles away in Pembrokeshire (something that we cannot even do today)you will understand why it is on the short list for the new 7 wonders of the world.

Just to clarify, you cannot actually get close to the stones themselves now(rightly, imo). The pathway encircling the monument is about 20 feet/7m+ away from them(not good at estimating distances, sorry).

They did reopen the stones for people to touch but was it not closed again because some idiots were scrwaling graffiti on them and trying to chip off bits as souvenirs? Only over the summer solstice is it open now.

Access to the stones is only available at the Solstice, and for pre-booked groups before usual opening hours (which is how I was able to visit them). It is partly because of graffiti/souvenir-hunting (although both have been occurring on site since the Bronze Age) but also to safeguard the site itself. It is not good archaeology to allow hordes of people (and there are most definitely hordes at Stonehenge) to walk freely over a site which may well offer more information to archaeologists of the future, whose techniques will hopefully enable them to derive information we cannot at present access. This argument is most strongly applicable at Stonehnge, because of the sheer number of visitors.

That's what I said..... only you said it better!