Visiting Southampton & nearby areas .. what to recommend?

I am planning to visit Southampton in 10 days time … are there, or near it, old villages/ towns? … beaches .. safe with easy parking?

places you recommend, please

Thanks! :)

Romsey is an old Market Town nearby with an ancient abbey.

Also the New Forest is not to be missed - but a bit of ride to get there

Great ideas, thanks very much to Detetcive and CaptainSwing.

And thanks in advance to those adding their comments

As has been said above, 30 min drive from So'ton for the forest where you can see the usual stuff - Lyndhurst, Brokenhurst, Burley, Beaulieu (and the motor museum), Bucklers Hard, Lepe country park etc.

Even the historic dockyard in Portsmouth is worth a visit, and if you like Skeggy (on a small scale) you can soak up the ambiance of Southsea seafront!

Only decent beaches are to the west of Southampton - it's shingle city everywhere else.

The Isle of Purbeck is especially nice (as mentioned), but it'll take forever to get there!

Winchester is lovely, with the cathedral etc. Best way to get there from Southampton would probably be the train, though there is plenty of parking too.

 

Nearest decent beaches are probably Bournemouth/Christchurch/Mudeford.

 

Bit further out there's the Isle of Purbeck with the ruined castle at Corfe and the Square & Compass at Worth Matravers, one of the best pubs in the country. A fun way to get there by car is to use the ferry at Sandbanks, though on summer weekends that can be busy and the little road on the Purbeck side can be chocka. Might be better to drive round via Wareham at the weekend.

 

New Forest is great for wildlife and easy walking/cycling, but scenically a bit dull IMO. Better scenery along the Purbeck coast, or the Downs are not far away either, in the other direction.

 

Another tourist option is to get the ferry over to the Isle of Wight. Godshill is a quaint chocolate box village, but be warned it's a major honeypot.

I'm down in Winchester next month to see my son pass out with the Royal Engineers. Really looking forward to a few days sightseeing, as it's supposed to be a lovely place.

If you're interested in cars/motoring then there's Beaulieu not too far away..

http://www.beaulieu.co.uk/

thanks to everyone!

Thanks to everyone who gave a comment … I had a great time in my trip

- Winchester impressed me a lot … you can tell the town is managed by an organisation with healthy mentality, positive thinking and intelligence … it took 3 minutes to learn that this is a lucky town, unlike so many ….

- Winchester cathedral, I felt, was badly managed

- Southampton?

Love at first sight!

Everything about it was amazing … even price of petrol selling at £113.9 per litre

- I heard the place is known for crime … Portsmouth was even worse, someone said!

So Thanks to everyone!