Start the South Downs Way in Winchester, by the River Itchen at the east end of the city

Find Jane Austen's grave in the nave of Winchester Cathedral

Walk the first miles of the Way up onto the downs above the Itchen

See the Great Hall and the Round Table in Winchester

The South Downs Way runs 100 miles along the chalk from Winchester to Eastbourne, the only National Trail entirely within a national park and rideable end to end on a horse or a bike. It starts in Winchester, the royal centre of Anglo-Saxon Wessex, where the cathedral, among the largest in northern Europe and built between 1079 and 1532, holds Jane Austen's grave.

The South Downs Way: Winchester and the Western Downs

Winchester and the South Downs

Portsmouth

A week-long loop from Portsmouth: Nelson's flagship in the Historic Dockyard, ponies in the New Forest, the stones of Stonehenge and Avebury, and Winchester at the start of the South Downs Way.

The New Forest and Stonehenge from Portsmouth

Cycle the forest tracks of the New Forest, the hunting forest William I created in 1079, now a National Park

Find the Knightwood Oak on the Bolderwood Ornamental Drive, one of the forest's most famous ancient pollards

See the wild ponies, and walk the Deer Watch trail at Bolderwood looking out for fallow deer

Visit the Rufus Stone, which marks the traditional spot where William II was killed in 1100

Visit the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, founded in 1952

William I made the New Forest a royal hunting forest in 1079, and it is now a national park where ponies and deer roam free. On the Bolderwood Ornamental Drive stands the Knightwood Oak, one of the forest's most famous old pollards, and at Bolderwood a short Deer Watch trail looks out over the meadows where deer graze. The Rufus Stone marks the traditional spot where William II was killed while hunting in 1100, and the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu was founded in 1952.

The New Forest: Bolderwood, the Rufus Stone and Beaulieu

Tour the state rooms used as Downton Abbey

See the Egyptian exhibition and the Carnarvon–Carter story

Walk the Capability Brown parkland and the Temple of Diana

Walk the Secret Garden and the monks' garden

Charles Barry rebuilt Highclere for the Earls of Carnarvon in a Jacobethan and Italianate style in the 1840s, and it became famous all over again as Downton Abbey. The 5th Earl funded Howard Carter's search for Tutankhamun and was with him when the tomb was opened; the Egyptian exhibition in the cellars tells the story of the discovery and shows the family's own Egyptian collection.

Highclere: Downton Abbey and a Tomb Full of Egypt

Board HMS Victory, Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar in 1805, in the Historic Dockyard, and HMS Warrior of 1860

See the Mary Rose, Henry VIII's flagship that sank on 19 July 1545 and was raised on 11 October 1982, in its museum

Go up the Spinnaker Tower, 170m tall and opened in 2005, to its viewing decks

Visit the D-Day Story at Southsea, home of the 83m Overlord Embroidery

In the Historic Dockyard lie HMS Victory, Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar in 1805, and HMS Warrior of 1860, and the Mary Rose, Henry VIII's flagship, which sank on 19 July 1545 and was raised on 11 October 1982, has its own museum. The Spinnaker Tower, 170m tall, opened in 2005, and at Southsea the D-Day Story holds the 83m Overlord Embroidery.

Portsmouth: HMS Victory, the Mary Rose and the Spinnaker

Climb Butser Hill (271m), the highest point on the chalk ridge of the South Downs, and identify constellations above the escarpment

Walk the ancient yew forest of Kingley Vale National Nature Reserve by moonlight — some of Britain's oldest yew trees stand in this nature reserve north-west of Chichester

Photograph the Milky Way from the chalk ridge on a moonless night

The South Downs became an International Dark Sky Reserve, Moore's Reserve, in 2016. Butser Hill at 271m is the highest point on the chalk ridge of the South Downs, and the yew forest at Kingley Vale — some of the trees among the oldest living things in Britain — is a strange place to be at dusk.

Moore's Reserve: Butser Hill and Kingley Vale by Night

Watch the racing from the Cowes seafront during Cowes Week

Take the chain ferry across the Medina to East Cowes

Get out on the Solent yourself, on a charter or the ferry

Work out the Solent's double tides from the tide tables

Cowes Week started in 1826 and is one of the longest-running regular regattas anywhere, and the largest sailing regatta of its kind in the world: about 40 races a day, around 500 boats and 2,500 competitors, from Olympic professionals to weekend sailors. It runs at the beginning of August on the Solent, the stretch between the mainland and the Isle of Wight made awkward by strong double tides, and the water fills with spinnakers.

Cowes Week: Two Hundred Years of Racing on the Solent

See the original Magna Carta in the chapter house

Find the medieval clock, among the oldest still working

Walk the cathedral close and the water meadows to Harnham

The main body of Salisbury Cathedral went up in 38 years, between 1220 and 1258, which is why it looks all of a piece; the spire, finished by about 1330, is at 123m the tallest in England. Inside it are one of the four surviving original copies of Magna Carta and a clock that is among the oldest working examples in the world, and the close around it is the largest in Britain.

Salisbury: England's Tallest Spire and a Copy of Magna Carta

Tour Windsor Castle, the largest inhabited castle in the world, begun by William I around 1070, and see St George's Chapel, begun in 1475

Take a boat trip on the Thames from Windsor

Walk across the Thames to Eton College, founded in 1440 by Henry VI, and see its chapel from the street

Visit Runnymede, the meadow where King John sealed Magna Carta in 1215, and its memorial of 1957

William I founded Windsor Castle around 1070, and it is the largest inhabited castle in the world and the longest-occupied palace in Europe, with St George's Chapel begun in 1475. Across the Thames, Henry VI founded Eton College in 1440, and down the river at Runnymede King John sealed Magna Carta in 1215, where the memorial went up in 1957.

Windsor, Eton and Runnymede

Tour the Bodleian Library, opened in 1602, and see the Divinity School and the Radcliffe Camera of 1749

Visit Christ Church, founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, and its Great Hall, and listen for Great Tom, the bell in Tom Tower that rings 101 times each night at 9.05pm

Visit the Ashmolean Museum, the oldest public museum in the UK, opened in 1683

Punt on the River Cherwell from Magdalen Bridge Boathouse

The Bodleian Library opened in 1602, and with it come the Divinity School and the Radcliffe Camera of 1749. Henry VIII founded Christ Church in 1546, and every night at 9.05pm Great Tom in Tom Tower rings 101 times. The Ashmolean, opened in 1683, is the oldest public museum in the UK, and punts go out on the Cherwell from Magdalen Bridge.