It is a great start, though, winning us over to the idea of a book that takes as its focus a tarmacked belt along certain sections of which may be found, in high season, thousands of motorists cursing themselves for having chosen this way to the west. I loved the bits in this book about the villages and countryside, and I pretty much enjoyed the history and old tales of strange country folk and unusual goings on from various times in history.

This is nothing more than a vanity project, which would be a complete waste of time and money, and would create far more problems and confusion than it would solve. He admits in the Acknowledgements at the end that he 'likes writing books like this' No Tom, you should love writing books like this. Its the road that people in the South East of England used to take to get to the South West - and all the joys of family holidays that Devon/Cornwall can offer. Four-and-a-half thousand years ago the bluestones of Stonehenge were conveyed west from the river Avon along a small section of its route. Forts book is also a mediation on the motor car itself: it is a force for darkness or for liberation?This is a lovely and engaging book that I can heartily recommend to anyone who, like me, has the same love-hate relationship as the author with this, the greatest of all English roads. I thought that Tom Fort had a nice presentation style and visited some interesting but little known places.

Compared to the bland and brazen utility of, say, the M4, the A303 – which comes off the M3 at Basingstoke and runs down to Honiton in Devon – is a rich and magical road. It’s a route knotted together for escapees from the capital, evolved piecemeal from the ancient paths, turnpikes and roads that came before.His object is to reveal the special beauty of the landscape, particularly Salisbury Plain and Stonehenge (pictured). In this fully revised and updated edition, Tom Fort gives voice to the stories this road has to tell, from the bluestones of Stonehenge, Roman roads and drovers paths to turnpike tollhouses, mad vicars, wicked Earls and solstice seekers, the history, geography and culture of this road tells a story of an English way of life.

As for the east-to-west bias of the book, Fort deals with this very wittily early on, and anyone who can spend a page speculating on whether Mrs de Winter "and her creepy husband" took the A303 or the A30 to get to his Cornish home in Rebecca without making us raise our hands in exasperation is going to get my vote.We try to add new providers constantly but we couldn't find an offer for "A303: Highway to the Sun" online. At first it seemed as if Fort intended to show how the A303 has changed the landscape over the years.

The bit between Bullington Cross (where the A34 and A303 have a junction) about 10 miles from where it disappears into the A3 right down almost to Yeovil at Podimore Cross I know it like the back of my hand. Not even a road I know that well, although I did travel on a stretch when driving from Tintagel to Bath in the aim of making a change from the M5. Unfortunately John Holdsworth's documentary was ruined by the decision to use Tom Fort, a self-styled 'eccentric' as presenter. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. The A303 officially dates back to 1937, when a series of existing roads was rebranded and given this single number.If you're oop north your best route is actually M6, M5 then the very good A417 - A419 to Swindon - cross the M4 then head down through Marlborough and Tidworth. After all, the literal 'road maps' and plans cost a few million to draw up before even a square metre of tarmac is raised. Minimum 8 hours, even overnight, so we used to arrive fresh as daisies whilst Mum and Dad were knackered.