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Recommend me places to visit in Southsea and Portsmouth please

chainsawjob

chainsawjob

Kipping in the dunes
On a weekday next week.

Already been to:

Historic Dockyard
Southsea Castle
Southsea Museum (the natural history/art/local history one)
Hot Walls
Southsea seafront/pier/funfair

Any other suggestions? Is there a Dicken's museum or house or something?

Ta.
 
theddaystory.com

The D-Day Story, Portsmouth

How do you get an army across the English Channel and into France when your enemy is well armed, well trained and expecting you? Find out how at The D-Day Story, Portsmouth Told through the personal accounts of people who were there and brought to life through stunning audio-visual presentations alo
theddaystory.com theddaystory.com
 
manji said:
Fratton Park vintage football ground.
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Sorry, not sure if this is a serious suggestion? Why's it worth a visit? I can't really call myself a huge football fan (and have mostly lived in Southampton, so not a Pompey supporter! nor Saints particularly).
 
chainsawjob said:
Southsea seafront/pier/funfair
Click to expand...
I'm sure we'll mooch along the sea front, wander through the gardens too.

RoyReed said:
theddaystory.com

The D-Day Story, Portsmouth

How do you get an army across the English Channel and into France when your enemy is well armed, well trained and expecting you? Find out how at The D-Day Story, Portsmouth Told through the personal accounts of people who were there and brought to life through stunning audio-visual presentations alo
theddaystory.com theddaystory.com
Click to expand...
Ah, I think I have been to this, a modern building not far from the castle iirc? Not averse to going again though. Free iirc.
 
chainsawjob said:
There's a Kent one too isn't there? Broadstairs?
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Yes there is - The Dickens House Museum.
Went there several years ago - quite small from what I remember.
It was the cottage that apparently inspired the setting of Betsey Trotwood's home in David Copperfield.
Dickens had a holiday home in Broadstairs and stayed at Fort House.
Later renamed Bleak House - now is/was a guest house..
Keep meaning to return.
Have a lovely day out with your friend!!
 
I've had a further thought but I doubt that you will have the time.
If so - there is an interesting second hand book store in Petersfield.
About a 30 minute train journey I believe from Portsmouth.
It hit the news a couple of years ago.
An employee Tweeted that they had not sold a book or had a visitor all day.
First time ever apparently.
It gathered momentum with authors such as Neil Gaiman, Stephen Fry, Gyles Brandreth supporting it.
That employee was a chap named John Westwood - a famous Portsmouth fan.
(No need to visit Fratton Park then) ;)
Opening hours are 9.00am - 5.30pm..

The Petersfield Bookshop – Antiquarian and Second-Hand Book Bought and Sold

www.petersfieldbookshop.com www.petersfieldbookshop.com
1657867486929.png1657867540540.png
 
chainsawjob said:
On a weekday next week.

Already been to:

Historic Dockyard
Southsea Castle
Southsea Museum (the natural history/art/local history one)
Hot Walls
Southsea seafront/pier/funfair

Any other suggestions? Is there a Dicken's museum or house or something?

Ta.
Click to expand...

Fort Brockhurt in Gosport, is a nice little museum of the 'Palmerstone's Folles' fortifications. Likewise Gosport has its own museum in the town centre. And the harbour ferry journey s cool (but not cheap!). Oh, and maybe you can still take a round the harbour boat trip from The Hard? That's quite nice though how interesting depends on what's in port that day.

There's the Royal Marines museum and the Royal Armories museum. There's Portsmouth City museum and art gallery near the university library (as opposed to the Natural History museum that used to be called Cumberland House, which may no longer be called that and I think you mentioned...)

Walk around Portsea Island on the Millennium path? It's a nice walk, and it takes all day. There is as you mention, a Charles Dickens' Birthplace museum too, in North End.

And a fuckload more military stuff .. "Action Stations!", a WW1 museum, the Millennium Prick (oops 'spinnaker tower'), and there's the beach of course, if the weather is fine.

I'll be there myself in August so please post about anything new and interesting you find when you're there :thumbs:
 
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Oh, I've been on that landlocked submarine you can go on in Gosport, it's part of a boat trip that you can take as part of the Royal Dockyards thing.

Gosport is much maligned. I used to like visiting there, used to meet a friend for badminton, and there was a good wetsuit shop there. Not been in ages, don't know it that much. Oh and one memorable night picking up OH from a stag do where there'd been a stripper :rolleyes: (best forgotten, that one, did not enjoy walking into that pub!).
 
There's a very decent chippy IIRC at The Hard (Victory fish bar?)

And I've edited in a few more attractions I remembered!

And the Still and West pub, at The Point in Old Portmouth .. good beer, and a kind of unofficial museum.of 'life at The Point, outside the city walls, through the ages' .. a very dangerous place, once upon a time...
 
That reminds me of a summer day I spent on the common with schoolmates many years ago...

so yeah, first take acid and play crazy golf till you get kicked out, crash a borrowed bike at the skatepark, then go and watch hovercraft come and go, giggling stupidly. Then waste all the rest of your money at the shitty funfair so you have to walk miles and miles home :D
 
mojo pixy said:
That reminds me of a summer day I spent on the common with schoolmates many years ago...

so yeah, first take acid and play crazy golf till you get kicked out, crash a borrowed bike at the skatepark, then go and watch hovercraft come and go, giggling stupidly. Then waste all the rest of your money at the shitty funfair so you have to walk miles and miles home :D
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Not sure my friend would be up for that, we were more thinking, cream tea, gentle museum visit, see the sea...

I might be, but not on a weeknight :D (joking :hmm: )
 
surreybrowncap said:
I've had a further thought but I doubt that you will have the time.
If so - there is an interesting second hand book store in Petersfield.
About a 30 minute train journey I believe from Portsmouth.
It hit the news a couple of years ago.
An employee Tweeted that they had not sold a book or had a visitor all day.
First time ever apparently.
It gathered momentum with authors such as Neil Gaiman, Stephen Fry, Gyles Brandreth supporting it.
That employee was a chap named John Westwood - a famous Portsmouth fan.
(No need to visit Fratton Park then) ;)
Opening hours are 9.00am - 5.30pm..

The Petersfield Bookshop – Antiquarian and Second-Hand Book Bought and Sold

www.petersfieldbookshop.com www.petersfieldbookshop.com
View attachment 332341View attachment 332342
Click to expand...
He’s actually a decent guy. I’m a Saints fan but he’s got a good attitude about football rivalry.
 
chainsawjob said:
Not sure my friend would be up for that, we were more thinking, cream tea, gentle museum visit, see the sea...

I might be, but not on a weeknight :D (joking :hmm: )
Click to expand...
lol in all honesty any suggestion that begins with "take acid..." should be ignored at all costs and destroyed humanely if possible.

Amazingly on that particular day I got taken home on an empty bus by an off duty driver whose bus needed to go to the depot near my house.

As for pompey sights, may I also add that if you can, get to the Churchillian pub up above Cosham, on Portsdown Hill. The view from there is awesome, on a clear day you can see the coast from Selsey Bill to Southampton, most of the Isle of Wight and a decent chunk of Hampshire. Probably the best spot in the whole area to catch sunset.
 
I remember now, I've been up the Spinnaker tower and walked on the glass floor. I'd forgotten that.

Yeah the views from Portsdown hill are great aren't they mojo pixy.

I also like Porchester Castle.

It's starting to sound like you could spend a whole week in Southsea/Portsmouth and environs, and not run out of things to do. We only have a day though, and it might be baking, so we'll see what we can fit in.

Ta very much again everyone, great suggestions, appreciated!
 
chainsawjob said:
I also like Porchester Castle.

It's starting to sound like you could spend a whole week in Southsea/Portsmouth and environs, and not run out of things to do. We only have a day though, and it might be baking, so we'll see what we can fit in.

Ta very much again everyone, great suggestions, appreciated!
Click to expand...
Yeah sorry, I grew up there and despite its various well deserved reputations it is an endlessly interesting city. Obviously you can't do everything in a day (personally I'd mainly recommend Fort Brockhurst because it's off the beaten track and it's a fascinating piece of historical realia).

Then obviously other readers may decide to visit as they scroll by, and this is the only thread dedicated to Portsmouth afaik so .. chuck it all in :thumbs:

Have a great day anyway, me n the boy'll be there for a few days in August and we're taking bikes on the train. By the way it's a fantastic place for seeing by bike, because it's flat as flat gets - plus you can also use the harbour ferry. In a car, Southsea to Gosport is nearly 20 miles of gruelling congestion. On a bike it's two short rides and a nice boat trip, and worth going because ftr, Stokes Bay is the nicest beach in the area by some considerable margin!
 
A few years ago we spent a month in Spain, catching the ferry from Portsmouth to Santander. The night before leaving we ate at a Tapas restaurant in Portsmouth called Nicholson's. The best meal we had all holiday, and we did have some good ones.
 
In the end, despite everyone's very helpful suggestions, we went to the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, largely because it's right there next to the station, when you get off the train at Portsmouth Harbour. It was a hot-ish day, so less traipsing around seemed a good plan.

It's pricey to get in (£39 quid :eek: ), but there's really more in there than you can fit into one day, and the ticket does give you unlimited return visits for free for a year. I'd been before, but not for several years (and my last visit was on a bitter February day, and not that enjoyable), but my friend hadn't. One good thing... I have a disability, so my friend acted as my 'carer' for the day, so got a free carer's ticket, and the good thing was that when I asked what I needed to provide to prove I'm registered disabled (I had my UC account ready and open on my phone), they said "we don't ask people to prove their disability, it's demeaning, we just take you at your word". Excellent, as it should be. So we were able to split the cost at £20 quid each.

I'm now gonna spam the thread with pics!
 
I love the train journey from Southampton to Portsmouth, lots of ancient memories of happy trips, and long gone friends.

1658903075066.png1658903129401.png1658903170924.png

Last pic is taken from inside Portsmouth Harbour station, it's the HMS Warrior.
 
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