21 Best Sights in The South, England

The family seat of the marquesses of Bath, Longleat House is one of southern England's most famous stately homes, and possibly the most ambitiously, even eccentrically, commercialized, as evidenced by the presence of a drive-through safari park (open since 1966) with giraffes, gorillas, monkeys, rhinos, lions, tigers, and more (there are also walk-through and boat versions). A two-hour, first-come, first-served Safari Bus tour of the park is provided twice daily (£9), as well. The house, considered one of the finest remaining examples of High Elizabethan style, was largely completed in 1580 for more than £8,000, an astronomical sum at the time. It contains outstanding tapestries, paintings, porcelain, furniture, and one of England's largest private collections of books (more than 40,000 volumes housed in seven libraries). Notable period features include Victorian kitchens, painted ceilings, and an Elizabethan great hall with massive wooden beams and a minstrels' gallery. House visits are by one-hour guided tour for a specific time slot and are included with a House and Gardens ticket. In addition to 900 acres of parkland designed by Capability Brown, plus formal and pleasure gardens, the property has a miniature steam railway, a koala family, Britain's largest (and fairly fiendish) hedge maze, and animatronic dinosaurs (summer only). All this makes it extremely popular, particularly in summer and during school vacations. Book your tickets online before you visit. You can stay at one of seven cottages on-site (from £500).

Close to the village of Stourton lies one of Wiltshire's most breathtaking sights—Stourhead, a Palladian mansion whose gardens are the most celebrated example of the English 18th-century taste for "natural" landscaping. Both house and grounds have few parallels for beauty anywhere in Europe. Stourhead was built between 1721 and 1725 by wealthy banker Henry Hoare, popularly known as "Good Henry," with his descendants adding the portico and wings. (A fire gutted the building in 1902 shortly after restoration, but it was able to be largely reconstructed unaltered.) Henry's grandson added a wing for the elegant Regency library and a picture gallery to house his paintings and books. There are also significant collections of Chippendale furniture and Chinese and French porcelain collected by the early Hoares on their Grand Tours, comprising some 8,000 objects in total. Still, Stourhead's greatest masterpiece is its gardens, designed by Henry Hoare II and open to visitors since the 1740s. Influenced by the neoclassical dream landscapes of 17th-century painters Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin, Henry "the Magnificent" used hills, water (notably the central lake), and a remarkable collection of trees and shrubs—interspersed with classically inspired temples, grottoes, follies, and bridges—to create the effect of a three-dimensional oil painting. Discover the changing vistas on a walk around the artificial lake (1½ miles; walk counterclockwise for the best views).

The best times to visit are early summer when the massive banks of rhododendrons are in full bloom or mid-October for autumn color, but the gardens are beautiful anytime. You can get a fine view of the surrounding area from King Alfred's Tower, a 1772 folly (a structure built for picturesque effect).

Surrounding part of Avebury village, the world's largest stone circles are one of England's most evocative prehistoric monuments—not as famous as Stonehenge, but all the more powerful for their lack of commercial exploitation. The stones at Avebury were erected between 2850 and 2200 BC, about the same time as the better-known monument. As with Stonehenge, the purpose of this stone circle has never been ascertained, although it most likely was used for similar ritual purposes. Unlike Stonehenge, however, there are no certain astronomical alignments at Avebury, at least none that have survived. The main site consists of a wide, circular ditch and bank, about 1,400 feet across and more than half a mile around. Entrances break the perimeter at roughly the four points of the compass, and inside stand the remains of three stone circles. The largest one originally had 98 stones, although only 27 remain. Many stones on the site were destroyed centuries ago, especially in the 14th century when they were buried for unclear reasons, possibly religious fanaticism. Others were later pillaged in the 18th century to build the thatched cottages you see flanking the fields. You can walk around the circles, a World Heritage site, at any time; early morning and early evening are recommended. As with Stonehenge, the summer solstice tends to draw the crowds.

Located in an Elizabethan country house on a 275-acre estate (part of the South Downs National Park), this library specializes in works by English women writers from 1600 to 1830, including authors such as Mary Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Frances Burney. It also houses the Knight Collection, the private library of the family who owned the house for more than 400 years. Jane Austen’s brother, Edward, inherited the property and added the walled kitchen garden, shrubberies, and parkland. You can see the dining room table where Austen joined her family for meals and the library collection that contains a manuscript written in her own hand. A café serves coffee and cakes. Note that admission is by prebooked time slot, and the only parking by the house is some spaces for people with disabilities.

The unique geological curiosity known as Chesil Beach (official slogan: "18 miles and 180 billion pebbles") is in fact not a beach but a tombolo, a thin strip of sand and shingle (rounded pebbles) that joins two bits of land together. Part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage site, Chesil, 18 miles long, is remarkable for its pebbles that decrease in size from east to west. It's also known as the setting for Ian McEwan's novel and its 2018 film adaptation, On Chesil Beach. You can access the eastern section leading to the Isle of Portland (a peninsula) and the western section beyond Abbotsbury year-round. However, access to the central section is restricted, with its environmentally sensitive eastern side that faces the Fleet Lagoon (a large saline lake) entirely off-limits and its western side closed from April to August to protect nesting birds (though you can visit the lagoon in a purpose-built boat, the Fleet Explorer, that runs daily tours). The entire rugged beach is better suited to walking and fossil hunting than sunbathing and swimming since powerful undertows make the water dangerous (it's also cold). There are walking and cycle trails along the rugged coastline and an excellent, informative visitor center with a café. Parking (£9–£15 per day) and toilets are at five access points. Amenities: parking (fee); toilets. Best for: walking; windsurfing.

A short walk west of the cathedral, this outstanding example of early English Gothic architecture is one of Britain's finest surviving 13th-century halls and all that remains of the city's original Norman castle built by William the Conqueror (later razed by Oliver Cromwell). It's also the site of numerous historic events: the English Parliament is thought to have had one of its first meetings here in 1246; Sir Walter Raleigh was tried for conspiracy against King James I in 1603; and Dame Alice Lisle was sentenced to death by the brutal Judge Jeffreys for sheltering fugitives after Monmouth's Rebellion in 1685. Hanging on the west wall is the hall's greatest artifact, a huge oak table, which, legend has it, was King Arthur's original Round Table. In fact, it was probably created around 1290 at the beginning of the reign of Edward I for a tournament. It is not clear when the green and white stripes that divide the table into 24 places, each with the name of a knight of the mythical Round Table, were added, but it is certain that the Tudor Rose in the center surmounted by a portrait of King Arthur was commissioned by Henry VIII. The garden, a re-creation of a medieval retreat, is named for two queens: Eleanor of Provence and Eleanor of Castile. Tours are available daily at 11 am and 3 pm.

Set in 1,000 acres of parkland designed by Capability Brown, this is the historic seat of the actual earls of Carnarvon—as opposed to the imaginary earls of Grantham who inhabit it in the television drama Downton Abbey. Victorian Gothic Revival rather than medieval Gothic, this huge country house was designed by Sir Charles Barry, who was commissioned by the third earl in 1838 to transform a simpler Georgian mansion. Barry used golden Bath stone to create this fantasy castle bristling with turrets, a style he had pioneered in his designs for the Palace of Westminster (where Parliament sits). Like its fictional counterpart, it served as a hospital during World War I. Highlights of the State Rooms include van Dyck's equestrian portrait of Charles I in the Dining Room and the imposing library (aka Lord Grantham's retreat). There's also an exhibit of Egyptian antiquities collected by the fifth earl, known for his pivotal role in the 1920s excavation of ancient Egyptian tombs, notably Tutankhamun's. A walk around the gardens and grounds offers pleasant views of the house and countryside.

You can only visit the estate via guided tours of the house, exhibition, and grounds. From July through early September, three tours (10 am, 12:30 pm, and 2:30 pm) are offered daily except for Fridays and Saturdays; at other times, tours (plus picnic or afternoon tea and entertainment) are available during intermittent themed weekends. Be sure to book all tours in advance. Two lodges on the estate are available for two- or three-night stays from February through December but go fast. The house is 25 miles north of Winchester and 5 miles south of Newbury. If you drive and want to use GPS, enter the postal code (RG20 9LE) for directions to the correct entrance. There's train service from London and Winchester to Newbury, and taxis can take you the 5 miles to Highclere.

This unassuming redbrick house is where Jane Austen spent the last eight years of her life, writing Emma, Persuasion, and Mansfield Park, and revising Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, and Pride and Prejudice. Now a museum, the house retains a modest but genteel atmosphere suitable for the home of a clergyman's widow and her unmarried daughters. The drawing room contains a piano similar to the one Jane would play every morning before retiring to a small writing table in the family dining parlor—leaving her sister, Cassandra, to do the household chores ("I find composition impossible with my head full of joints of mutton and doses of rhubarb," Jane wrote). In the early 19th century, the road near the house was a bustling thoroughfare, and although Jane was famous for working through interruptions, she retained one protection against the outside world—the famous creaking door, its hinges deliberately un-oiled to better warn her when someone was entering her workspace. The museum is often closed for special events, so call ahead. During 2025, the house will mark the 250th anniversary of Austen's birth will special events and programs (see janeaustens.house/visit/jane-austen-250 for information).

Originally built in the 17th century by the Royalist family that fled from Corfe Castle, this grand country house was remodeled in the 19th century by Sir Charles Barry, co-architect of London's Houses of Parliament, in the style of a lavish 18th-century Venetian palazzo. It contains notable paintings by Titian, Rubens, van Dyck, Tintoretto, and Velásquez as well as a dazzling Spanish Room lined in gilded leather and topped by an ornate gilded ceiling from an early 17th-century Venetian palace. The library has some 1,450 volumes dating from before 1801. There are also fine displays of Egyptian artifacts, the largest private collection in the country, many placed in landscaped gardens originally laid out in the 18th century (later supplemented by a Japanese garden with a teahouse). The extensive (8,500 acres) parklands have walking paths. Admission is by timed guided-tour ticket only.

Though managed separately, this museum is part of the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and houses the Mary Rose, the former flagship of Henry VIII's navy and the world's only 16th-century warship on display. Built in dockyard more than 500 years ago, the ship sank in the harbor in 1545 and remained there until raised in 1982. An accompanying exhibition displays artifacts retrieved from the seabed ranging from the ship's large guns to personal possessions like surgeon's tools, tankards, bowls, nit combs (for removing lice), and games.

Still largely owned by the Crown, this national park consists of 150 square miles of woodland, heaths, grassland, bogs, and the remains of coppices and timber plantations established in the 17th to 19th century. It also encompasses a number of towns including Lyndhurst, the New Forest's administrative center. Residents have had grazing rights since the 12th century, and you can still encounter free-roaming cattle, and, most famously, the hardy New Forest ponies. An extensive network of trails makes it a wonderful place for biking, walking, and horseback riding.

This palazzo-style Italianate house, much of it designed by Prince Albert in collaboration with Thomas Cubitt, was the royal family's private retreat and Queen Victoria's favorite residence. The house reveals Albert's interest in engineering through clever innovations like an early form of central heating, as well as Victoria's determination to give her children a normal but disciplined upbringing. After Albert's death in 1861, the queen retreated to Osborne to mourn her loss in relative seclusion, and the antiques-filled rooms have scarcely been altered since she died here in 1901. The house and extensive grounds (also designed by Albert)—which can be quite crowded during July and August—were used as a location for the 2019 television series Victoria. From June to September, a minibus can take you to Victoria's private beach, now open to the public, where you can see her bathing machine. Another minibus goes to the Swiss Cottage, built as a playhouse for Victoria and Albert's nine children; there are also two playgrounds for young children on-site. Book ahead for guided tours of the house and gardens. Buses 4 (from Ryde) and 5 (from Cowes and Newport) stop outside.

Salisbury is dominated by the towering cathedral, a soaring hymn in stone. It is unique among cathedrals in that it was conceived and built as a whole in the amazingly short span of 38 years (1220–58). The spire, added in 1320, is the tallest in England and a miraculous feat of medieval engineering—even though the point, 404 feet above the ground, is 2½ feet off vertical. The excellent model of the cathedral in the north nave aisle, directly in front of you as you enter, shows the building about 20 years into construction, and makes clear the ambition of Salisbury's medieval builders. For all their sophistication, the height and immense weight of the great spire have always posed structural problems. In the late 17th century, Sir Christopher Wren was summoned from London to strengthen the spire, and in the mid-19th century Sir George Gilbert Scott, the leading Victorian Gothicist who designed the Houses of Parliament, undertook a major program of restoration. He also initiated a clearing out of the interior and removed some less-than-sympathetic 18th-century alterations, returning a more authentically Gothic feel. The spartan interior is enlivened by the remarkable lancet windows and sculpted tombs of crusaders and other medieval notables. Next to the cathedral model in the north aisle is a medieval clock—probably the oldest working mechanism in Europe, if not the world—made in 1386 (there are late-morning demonstrations). 

The cloisters are the largest in England, and the octagonal Chapter House contains a marvelous 13th-century frieze showing scenes from the Old Testament. Here you can also see one of the four original copies of the Magna Carta, the charter of rights the English barons forced King John to accept in 1215; it was sent here for safekeeping in the 13th century.

There are bookable tours of the Tower (332 steps up) and the Library (which dates from 1445 and has more than 10,000 books, some 800 years old), as well as free tours of the floor monuments, the stained glass windows, and the Stonemasonry Works, where you can view stone carvers at work. For a peaceful break, the café in the cloister serves freshly baked cakes and pastries, plus hot lunches.

This museum tells the story of the city's residents—from the earliest settlers through the Romans and Saxons to the present—via artifacts from maritime, local history, archaeology, and archive collections as well as through audiovisual installations. Ships, including the great clippers, feature prominently, especially in the main exhibition devoted to the impact on the city of the sinking of the Titanic, which departed from here in 1912. An interactive model of the ill-fated ship and a wealth of footage and photos provide insight into the lives of the crew, many of whom were recruited locally.

As much as the golden hamstone (a type of limestone) exterior, majestic tower, and fine flying buttresses impress, the glory of Sherborne Abbey is the delicate 15th-century fan vaulting that extends the length of the soaring nave and choir. Some features from the original 8th-century cathedral, like a Saxon doorway in the northwest corner, still remain. If you're lucky, you might hear "Great Tom," one of the heaviest bells in the world, pealing out from the bell tower. Free guided tours lasting about an hour are offered from April through November on Tuesday and Thursday (10:30 am) and Wednesday and Friday (2 pm); tours are also offered Saturday (10:30 am) and Sunday (11:15 am) from early July through early September. From December through March, tours need to be made by prior arrangement.

The original 13th-century Sherborne Castle was demolished in the English Civil War, at which point this house, built by Sir Walter Raleigh on the site of an adjacent early Tudor hunting lodge, acquired the name. Raleigh made it his home for 10 years, adding the four hexagonal turrets topped with heraldic beasts in 1600. Sir John Digby acquired the house in 1671, adding four wings to create the current "H" shape. The castle's interiors cover a variety of periods, including Tudor, Jacobean, and Georgian. The Victorian Gothic rooms are notable for their splendid plaster ceiling moldings. Free one-hour tours are available with booked timed slot. After admiring the extensive collections of Meissen and Asian porcelain, stroll around the lake and 45 acres of landscaped grounds (a designated English Heritage Grade I site), the work of Capability Brown. The house is less than a mile southeast of town.

Mysterious and ancient, Stonehenge has baffled archaeologists, not to mention the general public, for centuries. One of England's most visited monuments (attracting more than a million visitors a year) and a UNESCO World Heritage site, the circle of giant stones standing starkly against the wide sweep of Salisbury Plain still has the capacity to fascinate and move those who view it. Unattractive visitor facilities have been removed to better establish the stones in their original context of grass fields, other nearby monuments, and their original processional approach, the Avenue. Although you can no longer enter the stone circle itself (except by special arrangement; check website for further information), you can roam free over the surrounding landscape with its Neolithic earthworks, some of which predate the stones. To best experience the awe and mystery of Stonehenge, visit the circle in the early morning or in the evening, when the crowds have dispersed.

Stonehenge was begun as early as 3000 BC with the construction of a circular earthwork enclosure. The nearby Cursus, long rectangular earthwork banks, was created some 500 years before. The stone circle itself was completed in stages, beginning around 2500 BC with the inner circle of bluestones, and it continued to be changed and in use until around 1600 BC. The early inner circle was later surrounded by an outer circle of 30 sarsen stones, huge sandstone blocks weighing up to 25 tons, which are believed to have originated from the Marlborough Downs. Within these two circles was a horseshoe-shape group of sarsen trilithons (two large vertical stones supporting a third stone laid horizontally across it); within that was another horseshoe-shape grouping of bluestones. The sarsens used in the trilithons averaged 45 tons. Many of the huge stones were brought here from great distances before the invention of the wheel, and it's not certain what ancient form of transportation was used to move them. Every time a reconstruction of the journey has been attempted, it has failed. The labor involved in quarrying, transporting, and carving these stones is astonishing, all the more so when you realize that it was accomplished about the same time as the construction of Egypt's major pyramids. 

Stonehenge (the name derives from the Saxon term for "hanging stones") has been excavated several times over the centuries, but the primary reason for its erection remains unknown. It's fairly certain that it was a religious site, and that worship here involved the cycles of the sun; the alignment of the stones on the axis of the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset makes this clear. When viewed from the center of the stone circle, the sun rises adjacent to the Heel Stone at midsummer and sets between the stones of the tallest trilithon at midwinter. The Druids certainly had nothing to do with the construction: the monument had already been in existence for nearly 2,000 years by the time they appeared. Some historians have maintained that Stonehenge was a kind of Neolithic computer, with a sophisticated astronomical purpose—an observatory of sorts—though evidence from excavations in the early 20th century shows that it had once been used as a burial ground. Another possibility is that this Neolithic village was home to those who performed the religious rites at Stonehenge, where people gathered from far and wide to feast and worship.

Without direct access to the stones, it is not possible to closely examine their prehistoric carvings, some of which show axes and daggers. Bring a pair of binoculars to help make out the details on the monoliths. To fully engage your imagination or to get that magical photo, it's worth exploring all aspects of the site, both near and far. You can download a helpful, free audio guide in advance or on-site. An informative visitor center is located 1½ miles away (access to the stone circle is via a frequent shuttle), with parking, a café, branded merchandise, and an exhibition of prehistoric objects found on-site. A dramatic display using time-lapse photography puts you (virtually) in the center of the circle as the seasons change. Next to the visitor center are some re-created Neolithic huts that show how the people who built and used Stonehenge might have lived.  Visits are by timed admission slots only; reserve ahead if possible. Last admission is two hours before closing.

Laid out over 22 acres, these gardens contain more than 3,500 species of trees, plants, and shrubs. Thanks to a unique microclimate, subtropical flora from the Mediterranean, Antipodes, and South Africa flourish outdoors, with 272 varieties in bloom on New Year's Day. The impressive greenhouse includes banana trees and a waterfall; a café and children's playground; a gift shop selling plants and seeds; and a visitor center that puts the gardens into context. You can stay overnight on the grounds, in a three-bedroom Victorian cottage, in one of two luxury cabins, or in a small lodge. All lodgings include admission and after-hours access to the gardens.

More than 300 feet long and one of the largest and most impressive Neolithic chambered tombs in Britain (though only about 50 people are buried here), the barrow was built around 3650 BC. You can explore the site and enter the tomb, which was used as a burial chamber for more than 1,000 years before the main passage was filled in and the front entrance blocked with sarsen boulders around 2000 BC. It has an elevated position with a great view of Silbury Hill and the surrounding countryside.

This is considered to be one of the loveliest stately homes in England and, along with its grounds, a fine example of the English Palladian style. The seat of the earls of Pembroke since Tudor times, the south wing of the current building was rebuilt in the early 17th century by Isaac de Caus, with input from Inigo Jones, Ben Jonson's stage designer and the architect of London's Banqueting House. It was completed by James Webb, again with input from Jones, Webb's uncle-by-marriage, after the south wing was ravaged by fire in 1647. Most noteworthy are the seven state rooms in the south wing, among them the Single Cube Room (built as a perfect 30-foot cube) and one of the most extravagantly beautiful rooms in the history of interior decoration, the aptly named Double Cube Room. The name refers to its proportions (60 feet long by 30 feet wide and 30 feet high), evidence of Jones's classically inspired belief that beauty in architecture derives from harmony and balance. The room's headliner is the van Dyck portrait of the Pembroke family. Elsewhere at Wilton House, the art collection includes several other Old Master paintings, including works by Rembrandt and members of the Brueghel family. Another exhibition is devoted to Cecil Beaton's photo portraits of 20th-century notables and the current Lord Pembroke's collection of classic cars. Also of note are the 22 acres of lovely grounds, which have sweeping lawns dotted with towering oaks; the gardens; and the Palladian bridge crossing the small River Nadder, designed by the ninth earl after the Rialto Bridge in Venice. Some public rooms may be closed on some open days (check website), and there are one-hour guides tours Monday through Wednesday.

The imposing Norman exterior of the city's greatest monument, begun in 1079 and consecrated in 1093, makes the Gothic airiness within even more breathtaking. It's one of the largest cathedrals in Europe, and throughout it are outstanding examples of every major architectural style from the 11th to 16th century: the transepts and crypt are 11th-century Romanesque; the great nave, the longest in Europe, is 14th- and 15th-century Perpendicular Gothic; and the presbytery (behind the choir, holding the high altar) is 14th-century Decorated Gothic. Other notable features include the richly carved 14th-century choir stalls, the ornate 15th-century stone screen behind the high altar, and the largest surviving spread of 13th-century floor tiles in England. Little of the original stained glass has survived, except in the large window over the entrance. When Cromwell's troops ransacked the cathedral in the 17th century, locals hid away bits of stained glass they found on the ground so that it could later be replaced. The Library's Winchester Bible, one of the finest remaining 12th-century illuminated manuscripts, is on display in an exhibition space in the South Transept, which also hosts the Kings and Scribes exhibition tracing the history of the cathedral. 

The patron saint of the cathedral is St. Swithun (died AD 862), an Anglo-Saxon bishop who is buried here. He had requested an outdoor burial plot, but his body was transferred to the newly restored church in 971, accompanied by, legend has it, 40 days of rain. Since then, folklore says that rain on St. Swithun's Day (July 15) means 40 more days of wet weather. Among the other well-known people buried here are William the Conqueror's son, William II ("Rufus"), mysteriously murdered in the New Forest in 1100, and Jane Austen, whose grave lies in the north aisle of the nave. The tombstone makes no mention of Austen's literary status, though a brass plaque in the wall, dating from 80 years after her death, celebrates her achievements, and modern panels provide an overview of her life and work. Free first-come, first-served tours are run year-round, Monday through Saturday, from 10 am to 3 pm, depending on volunteer availability. You can also book a tour of  the tower to check out its far-reaching views. Special events may mean the cathedral, the crypt, and the Treasury are closed to visits, so check the website. Outside the cathedral, explore the Close (the neat lawns to the south of the cathedral), the Deanery, Dome Alley, and Cheyney Court.