a couple of things:

1) Important question for Londoners (and other British types, I suppose): what are the trains like on Christmas Day? I'm looking into the possibility of taking the tube from Holborn to Waterloo, and then a train from there to Winchester, and then back again in the evening, because the youth hostel within the town itself no longer exists, hotels are out of our price range and the only B&Bs open over Xmas are just outside the town (and we won't be renting cars). The only problem is that we'd want to be there quite early -- the cathedral website doesn't have service times up yet, but I assume the morning service starts before 10am.

2) copinggoggles: can you double-check that we can stay with you around the 20-23 December?

Full skeleton itinerary to follow soon.

itinerary

( (first draft) )