Only ever been to Pompey to visit my mate at uni and never got round to anything other than getting wasted.

This time round I’m feeling a little more cultured.

Mary Rose worth a visit?

Anything else worth a look at?

You probably already know this, but the Mary Rose is just part of the Historic Dockyard which is a lot of stuff to look at.

There are also boat trips out in to the harbour where you get fairly close to Navy ships that are ‘in-house’

A short walk away is Gunwharf Quays if shopping/eating are your bag

I seem to remember that Victory was more impressive than the Mary Rose which seems to basically be a half rotted boat hull skeleton. All part of the historic Dockyard though which is worth a visit (https://www.historicdockyard.co.uk/)

There is a submarine museum over at Gosport but I think you have to drive right the way around Portsmouth Harbour and then down through Gosport so you will probably get mugged before you get thgere.

Mary Rose and rest of historic dockyard are pretty cool. D day museum in Southsea also quite good and the Southsea Beach cafe (or the 10th Hole for big slices of cake) are only a bit further down for a nice lunch.  Some nice bits round Southsea itself too.
If weather is nice the harbour tour can be pleasant and you have the option of getting off in Gosport to visit the submarine museum.
Spinnaker Tower isn’t worth the entry fee in my opinion (& I spend a lot of time hanging off the outside of it) unless you really want to see the area from a bit higher up! 😂 but Gun Wharf itself is alright if you want to do some shopping although the restaurants are all chain places.
Avoid the town centre, it’s pretty grim nowadays.

The air museum is worth a look… if you like that sort of stuff.

There is also HMS Victory, I went there about 30 years ago and thought it was awesome.

I went with my parents when I was younger. They were still spraying it with water.

It was a half rotten wooden boat then, and I believe it still is today. Didn’t do anything for me then and wouldn’t do now.

🤔 Historic dockyard…. It is worth spending most of the day there?

Remember going to Chatham yards as a kid and loved it. Trying to convince the GF isn’t so easy…. She’s not into history.

Can’t be doing with chain restaurants.

Anywhere to park the van overnight without being beaten up by drunk sailors or gakked up locals?

There is a submarine museum over at Gosport but I think you have to drive right the way around Portsmouth Harbour and then down through Gosport so you will probably get mugged before you get thgere.

Just take the Gosport ferry?

I really enjoyed the Mary Rose.

The recovered artefacts are the most interesting. Although, with more than a passing interest in Naval Architecture, the remains of the hull is still pretty interesting.

I found HMS Warrior more interesting than Victory.

Definitely worth a visit.

There are different levels of ticket for the Historic Dockyard from memory, however one includes a ferry and admission to the submarine museum.

We were in Portsmouth to get a ferry and thought we’d see the Mary Rose before dinner. Then we saw the prices: https://www.historicdockyard.co.uk/tickets-and-offers

86 quid for two adults and two kids for one site… Thanks but no thanks, went for a walk and thought we’d go up Spinnaker Tower for the view. 50 quid for a family ticket to get a bit of a view?!

If you’re all into history then the ultimate ticket to view everything over a couple of days is probably worth it, but the single ticket prices are, in my opinion, insane.

There’s the Hovercraft Museum just down the road too.

Mary Rose is important but not that impressive to look at. Plenty of great stuff in the rest of the dockyard to look at though.

I can’t find the clip online but I remember watching two squaddies being interviewed during the 2nd gulf war, found a transcript:

“Umm Qasr is a town similar to Southampton,” UK Defence Minister Geoff Hoon told the House of Commons yesterday.

“He’s either never been to Southampton, or he’s never been to Umm Qasr,” said one British soldier, informed of this while on patrol in Umm Qasr.

Another added: “There’s no beer, no prostitutes, and people are shooting at us. It’s more like Portsmouth.”

Definitely worth a visit to the historic dockyard + Mary Rose. I have seen the Mary Rose 3 times, now and it never fails to impress. Well I was only a kid the first time on the beach watching some platform in the solent slightly collapsing. Then the temporary structure, and now in the permanent building. Incredible.

If you have more than one day, then I also recommend heading east a bit and visiting Tangmere Aviation Museum just off the A27 near Chichester. Smaller, more enthusiast run place, but stacked with great stuff. Cheaper entry too.

We holidayed in the area a few years ago and spent a day at the dockyard museum. It’s easy a two day visit to do it all, and the museum across the harbour.

I thought it was really good, we saw the new aircraft carrier as part of the harbour tour. If that’s your bag, you’ll love it, if not, then you’ll not.

Historic dockyard…. It is worth spending most of the day there?

From what you have said, yes it is !!

Victory is excellent, even my completely uninterested 12/10 year olds enjoyed the headphone tour, really quite atmospheric.

Warrior is great, a couple of actors, I seem to remember, providing some fact/answering questions. The engine/stoking room particularly good…. hours upon hours of shoving coal off your t!ts on coke.

The Mary Rose is good, an impressive setting/building.

And if the GF has had enough the Outlet shopping place is 10mins walk away.

Have fun

Went to the dock yard on the way back from a holiday on the Isle of Wight about 4 years ago. I thought the Mary Rose was really impressive. The artifacts and the whole lay out of the place is really nicely done. Yeah it’s basically a wooden skeleton of a ship but the way it’s presented I thought was really good and provided a lot of context.

IMO, the MR was excellent, really interesting & something that’s basically unique. But if you’re not into history then 🤷‍♂️

Other bits & bobs at the dockyard too.

Gunwharf Quays (the newer bit) is quite smart but it’s just chain shops/restaurants really. Possibly a couple of indie (expensive) bars.

The rest of Portsmouth is a complete toilet 😂 💩

Mary Rose is really well presented now. Whilst it was being ‘preserved’ there was very little to see but now it’s a full exhibit and it’s easy to envision it as a working battleship (not that it did much battling).

If you’re thinking of spending a few days take the hovercraft to IoW.

The new aircraft carriers park right next to Victory if they’re in (being fixed).

Its worth a visit, but because of the way the tickets work if you’re doing the cheapest one then I would say either of the other two ships are a better visit, or spend the extra £10 and go Mary Rose > Victory > Warrior. Thats a whole day’s worth of stuff for £34 (so I would say quite good value) and you get a good trip through naval history if you then wonder down to the end of the docks to see the new navy frigates/Aircraft carriers/What-ever’s in dock that day.

Gun wharf as said is fine, if a generic outlet mall.

If you don’t fancy that for whatever reason, the historic fort walls running down to Southsea castle are pretty good too, but not one for a windy winter’s day.

I await the I went to see the Mary Rose and it wasn’t even **** finished complaint thread where the op lets us all know how he told the ignorant staff just how it should look. 🙂

I went to the dockyard a few years back. Mary Rose is… a damp wreck. The stuff they found is interesting though. But I’ve been to the Vasa Museum in Stockholm which is several billion times more impressive.

I also went round the sub museum (HMS Alliance) which was brilliant. It’s proper scary how small it is inside. Also was joined on the tour by a group of ex-boaties who were swapping stories with the guide. Fascinating!

Get the ferry over to see that (I actually started that side).

Popped round the Jutland exhibition as well. Which is a bit more “normal museum” than the ships and boats.

Also been on warrior before for a wedding. Interesting.

It’ll take a long time to do it all. Do pick carefully or go for more than one day.

Take care on Victory not to trip over the “Nelson fell here” plaque. If you manage it, try resting on your laurels.

@avdave2

Cheers for that. I laughed.

Guessing there are fewer Shoreditch rejects in Portsmouth than Brighton, mind…

Cheers for the info, guys… Might give it a bash….

And if the GF has had enough the Outlet shopping place is 10mins walk away.

She’s less interested in consumerist shite than I am…. That’s why I’m with her.

Next stop is Southampton…. Probably just go for a walk and gawp at the brexit looney locals in a random pub in the New Forest. NIMBYism heaven… 😘

Just before Southampton is Eastleigh… probably not much there of interest but by the station there’s a cracking train-themed brewpub called Steam Town Brew Co! 🍺 😃

The Forest is OK but it’s basically impossible to get a decent pint there ☹️

The Forest is OK but it’s basically impossible to get a decent pint there ☹️

Awww… I wouldn’t say that. There’s a few gems that I (vaguely) recall visiting…. Just can’t remember the names….

Recommendation for a decent grub pub near Ashurst?

Yes, just done 4 days with mrs, really enjoyed it but thought 3 days would have done.

Got the dockyard explorer (full ticket thing – so did 2 easy days there), the mrs loved the Mary Rose, I preferred the Victory, , harbour tour etc did the spinnaker – daylight and nighttime, followed the millennium trail (chain link thing in road, pavement etc), walked along the prom, wined and dined.

https://www.visitportsmouth.co.uk/things-to-do/millennium-promenade-p276841

Lots of eateries in southsea (rocks, maya, montys) and gunwharf ( we stayed dockyard premier inn, parking via your parking space at groundlings theatre , about 5 mins away and nearby tunnel to gunwharf which didn’t appear on Google earth/bing)

You could hovercraft or ferry to iow.

There is a d day museum on the pron but we didn’t do that.

Ah Portsmouth. I miss Joanna’s…..

Recommendation for a decent grub pub near Ashurst?

don’t have extensive knowledge of the area but whenever we visit my mate down there we go to Lyndhurst which is just down the road, the Fox is pretty good.

What was sobering for me was the Battle of Jutland section when I visited. There was a part of one ship on display that was found embedded in another ship miles away from the original ships catastrophic explosion. My grandfather was serving in the North sea fleet during the Great War, so feel damned lucky that he was boarding blockade runners rather than being in that action.

As a few have said Warrior is worth a visit as well as victory and the rose.

As already said the Dockyard is worth a visit, harbour tour is good espcailly if you catch HMS Queen Liz or Charlie in port or if your very lucky one of the large yank ships

The D day museum on the seafront is worth a visit, its just been updated and now has a very large WW2 landing craft outside which you can go and look around and inside on a tour for a small fee

Also hop on the Hovercraft to the I.O.W even if its just to stroll on the sandy beach and grab some lunch as the Hovercraft is the last remaining commercial one in the world

Tenth hole is worth a visit just for the cake and a round of pitch n putt

Butteryfly Museum is free, the exibits are old and tired but the butteryfly house is good espcially if one of the family is a bit scared of things flying round their heads lol

Gunwarf for shopping, cinema, bowling and food

Also worth a trip up the hill for Micks monster burger food truck (cheesy chips are my fav) you get a good view of Pompey, the I.O.W, Hayling Island, West Wittering and even some of Scum, look the opposite way and you get the Southdowns, the radar station and whilst your up there Fort Nelson is worth a visit

Head down the back of the hill behind the radar station and you have Southwick village where the D day landings were planned

Recommendation for a decent grub pub near Ashurst?

Are you parked up at the NT site next to the station? There’s a couple of pubs, one’s better than the other – the one nearest the campsite from memory (not the one about cheese). The cafe in The Woods Cyclery in Lyndhurst is good (and a great shop). Although, if the Brighton hipsters weren’t your thing…..