3 Best Sights in The South, England

In addition to being famous for sailing and its connections to Queen Victoria, the Isle of Wight is renowned for its glassmaking. Local craftspeople have given live demonstrations of glassblowing here since 1972. The perfume bottles, vases, bowls, doorknobs, ornaments, and other items they create are available for sale in the showroom.

Colossal and unblushingly priapic, this 180-foot-long figure dominates a hillside overlooking the village of Cerne Abbas. The giant carries a huge club and may have originated as a pre-Roman tribal fertility symbol. Alternatively, historians have tended to believe he is a representation of Hercules dating back to the 2nd century AD. Recent research suggests he may be a 17th-century gibe at Oliver Cromwell as there is nothing in the historical record before 1694 that mentions the figure, but other recent studies suggest the giant was first made by the Saxons between AD 700 and 1100. The figure's outlines are formed by 1-foot-wide trenches cut into the ground to reveal the chalk beneath. The best place to view the figure is from the A352 itself, where you can park in one of the numerous nearby turnouts.

Four miles west of Avebury, Cherhill Down is a prominent hill carved with a vivid white horse and topped with a towering obelisk. The horse, the second oldest chalk "white horse" in Wiltshire, is one of a number of hillside etchings in the county, all but two of which date back no further than the late 18th century. This one was put there in 1780 to indicate the highest point of the downs between London and Bath. The views from the top are worth the half-hour climb. The best view of the horse is from A4, on the approach from Calne (from the west).