Salisbury
England is endowed with countless stunning churches, but few can hold a candle to the grandeur and sheer spectacle of 13th-century Salisbury Cathedral…
Must-see attractions in Wessex
Dorset
The massive, shattered ruins of Corfe Castle loom so dramatically from the landscape it's like blundering into a film set. The defensive fragments tower…
Dorset
Durdle Door is the poster child of Dorset's Jurassic Coast. This immense, sea-fringed, 150-million-year-old Portland stone arch was created by a…
Salisbury
Magna Carta on display in Salisbury Cathedral's Chapter House is one of only four surviving original copies. A historic agreement made in 1215 between…
Stonehenge
An ultramodern makeover at ancient Stonehenge has brought an impressive visitor centre and the closure of an intrusive road (now restored to grassland)…
Winchester
One of southern England's most awe-inspiring buildings, 11th-century Winchester Cathedral boasts a fine Gothic facade, one of the longest medieval naves…
Wiltshire
With a diameter of 348m, Avebury is the largest stone circle in the world. It's also one of the oldest, dating from 2500 to 2200 BC. Today, more than 30…
Dorset
Dorset's must-see stately home looks every inch the setting for a period drama. It overflows with rich decor, most famously in the Spanish Room, which is…
Hampshire
Portsmouth's blockbuster draw sees you gazing at the evocative hulk of Henry VIII's flagship, the Mary Rose, and jumping aboard Nelson's Battle of…
Salisbury
Stately Wilton House provides an insight into the rarefied world of the British aristocracy. One of England's finest stately homes, it's been the house of…
Hampshire
The raising of the 16th-century warship the Mary Rose in 1982 was an extraordinary feat of marine archaeology. The £35-million, boat-shaped museum that's…
Wiltshire
Overflowing with vistas, temples and follies, Stourhead is landscape gardening at its finest. The Palladian house has some fine Chippendale furniture and…
Dorset
The tiny cottage that was home to TE Lawrence (1888–1935) provides a compelling insight into a complex man. The British soldier became legendary after…
Hampshire
As resplendent as she is venerable, HMS Victory was Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) and the site of his famous dying words 'Kiss…
Winchester
Winchester College delivers a rare chance to nosey around a prestigious English school. It was set up by William Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, in 1393,…
Isle of Wight
Lemon-frosted and Italianate, Osborne House is pure Victorian pomp. Built in the 1840s at the behest of Queen Victoria, the monarch grieved here for many…
Wiltshire
Half ancestral mansion, half wildlife park, Longleat was transformed into Britain's first safari park in 1966, turning Capability Brown's landscaped…
Isle of Wight
The Victorian fort complex at Wight's western tip is home to two gun emplacements where engrossing displays reveal how the site was established in 1862,…
Dorset
Occupying a massive slab of horizon on the southern fringes of Dorchester, Maiden Castle is the largest and most complex Iron Age hill fort in Britain…
Dorset
Portland's white limestone has been quarried for centuries and has been used in some of the world's finest buildings, such as the British Museum and St…
Dorset
Rarely do you find such a nudge-nudge, wink-wink tourist attraction. Nude, full frontal and notoriously well endowed, this hillside chalk figure is…
Dorset
The Thomas Hardy collection here is the world's largest, offering extraordinary insights into his creative process. You can see from text in Hardy's…
Dorset
Every May some 600 free-flying swans choose to nest at this swannery, which shelters in the Fleet Lagoon, protected by the ridge of Chesil Beach…
Stonehenge
The highlight here is a 360-degree projection of Stonehenge through the ages and seasons – complete with midsummer sunrise and swirling star-scape…
Wiltshire
The mother of all makeovers at this 16th-century manor house used original techniques and materials to recreate interiors spanning five periods. Being…
Winchester
The fantastical, crumbling remains of early-12th-century Wolvesey Castle huddle in the protective embrace of the city's walls. Completed by Henry de Blois…
Dorset
For a real sense of Portland's remote nature, head to its southern tip, Portland Bill, to climb the 41m-high, candy-striped lighthouse. It offers…
Hampshire
The magnificent warship HMS Warrior was at the cutting edge of technology when she was built in 1860, riding the transition from wood to iron and sail to…
Salisbury
The hugely important archaeological finds here include the Stonehenge Archer, the bones of a man found in the ditch near the stone circle – one of the…
Isle of Wight
The exquisitely preserved mosaics here (including a famous cockerel-headed man) make this one of the finest Romano-British sites in the UK. Wooden…
Dorset
A monastery was first founded in Wimborne, 10 miles north of Bournemouth, in around AD 705 by St Cuthburga. Most of the present-day Wimborne Minster was…
Bournemouth
Bournemouth's sandy shoreline regularly clocks up seaside awards. It stretches from Southbourne in the far east to Alum Chine in the west – an immense…
Bournemouth
Ostentation oozes from almost every inch of this arresting structure – a mash-up of Italianate villa and Scottish baronial pile. It was built at the end…
Wessex
Petrolheads, historians and ghost-hunters gravitate to Beaulieu (bew-lee) – a vintage car museum, stately home and tourist complex centred on a 13th…
Salisbury
The huge ramparts of Old Sarum sit on a grass-covered hill 2 miles north of Salisbury. You can wander the grassy ramparts, see the original cathedral's…
Wiltshire
Malmesbury Abbey is a blend of ruin and living church, with a somewhat turbulent history. Notable features include the Norman doorway decorated with…
Hampshire
Fittingly, there's a touch of period drama about the former home of Jane Austen (1775–1817). This appealing red-brick house is where the celebrated…
Salisbury
Salisbury's medieval cathedral close, a hushed enclave surrounded by beautiful houses, has an other-worldly feel. Many of the buildings date from the 13th…
Winchester
Winchester's cavernous Great Hall is the only part of 11th-century Winchester Castle that Oliver Cromwell spared from destruction. Crowning the wall like…
Wiltshire
Lacock Abbey is a window into a medieval world. Founded as an Augustinian nunnery in the 13th century, its deeply atmospheric rooms and stunning Gothic…
