Portsmouth has been much maligned, Spike Milligan relegated the whole town to Room 101 and sure, a weekend break in Portsmouth doesn’t have the same ring as 48 hours in Corfu or Majorca. You won’t see minke whales, otters or seals frolicking on the coast like you could, up in Scotland. But Portsmouth has a rich literary and naval history, the first Sherlock Holmes was written here. There is a newly restored and amazing dockyard with Henry VIII’s warship the Mary Rose and Nelson’s Victory.