Can you break your journey in both directions, on a UK off-peak return train ticket?

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Assuming I've understood that correctly, I think I'd always be fine to go from A to C on one day, then stop off in B on my way home. Is that correct?

Yes. So long as the timings mean that all the trains you travel on are OK with your ticket (ie, you don't stray into any applicable evening peak).

What about a break of journey on the outbound though. Is it commonly allowed, or commonly restricted?

It... depends :)

And how do I find out for my given journey?

The information is there on the National Rail website, but as far as I can tell there isn't any well-publicised link in. The actual PDF you that has all the details is (currently) at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/pdfs/OffPeak.pdf, but it's best to note how I got there for when they inevitably move it:

  • Use Journey Planner to construct a return journey A-C-A, on the days of interest
  • In the results, identify a row corresponding to the ticket you want, and expand the Other tickets βŒ„ section
  • Underneath the Buy from dropdown, you should see 1 x Adult - _Off Peak Return_
  • Click that Off Peak Return link
  • The URL you are now on starts http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/ticketterms/show and contains information along the lines of ticketTypeCode=SVR&ticketRestriction=US - this US is the Validity Code within the ticket type of SVR (Saver Return, the old name for a multi-day off peak return)
  • At the bottom of this page you will find links to the specific information for validity code US, at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/pdfs/SVR_US.pdf, and information for all offpeak validity codes, at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/pdfs/OffPeak.pdf

Once you have this last PDF (and the similar ones for Advance and Anytime), you can just mouseover the links on the journey planner results screen and look up the codes yourself.

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