Cambridgeshire/Lavenham?

I presume you must be driving. Even driving will be several hours from CC. I think it would make sense to take the longer drive to Lavenham for the first night and then stay in a village closer to Heathrow for the last night. Or, as many of us do, get back to Heathrow for your flight the next day. What time is your flight?

Maybe save Lavenham for the next trip:)

Agree with the above. If you’re flying from Heathrow it makes much more sense to be in the Cotswolds immediately beforehand rather than in East Anglia.

Assuming you’re driving, where are you picking up your car?

Why does Lavenham speak to you particularly? I’m very fond of that area but it is not particularly well connected to Heathrow or Chipping Camden by road or by rail.

It is much easier to get from London to Bury St Eds than from the north Cotswolds.

Train to Cambridge, change to train to Bury St Eds and then taxi or bus or car to Lavenham.

If you want to go from there to Heathrow on your departure day I really hope your flight is in the evening.

From the north Cotswolds, return your car at Oxford and then the easy and frequent coach to Heathrow - you can do it if your flight is in the afternoon.

A titch more info would help us help you more.

I would do Lavenham and Cambridge as a day trip from London during your 7 nights.
Nigel has given you the directions.
Perhaps on your 3rd or 4th day in London would be a good time for the day trip to Lavenham.

I'm not sure how this fits in with your other topic you have going on: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/suggestions-for-car-rental-in-london

"We will then stay in Chipping Campden for three nights and explore a bit of the Cotwolds."......I'm not sure there will be enough there to keep young people interested, since you said your grandson would be coming along (in your other thread).
Many visitors are satisfied with one of the excellent day tours that visits 6 to 10 Cotswolds villages, then returns you either to London or to Moreton-in-Marsh/Oxford area.

If you decided to nix the car rental idea, I think you'd be pleased with a stay in Oxford for several nights (LOTS to do there) and a day tour to the Cotswolds with a tour company.
Oxford is a lot more interesting than Chipping Campden & driving through the Cotswolds.
Great museums....the Ashmolean Museum and Pitt Rivers Museum.....plus walking tours of all the colleges. Yes, there are many colleges there. I think Oxford would be fascinating for your grandson and others in your party.
Outside of Oxford (go by bus from town center) is Blenheim Palace, open to visitors; that should fill an afternoon.

"We have two more nights to stay before leaving from Heathrow."
You could go to Windsor for a two night stay. It's an interesting town for walking with some cobblestone streets, some medieval buildings, some Georgian, and a great castle.
Riverboat rides, great restaurants and hotels there.
Heathrow is a very short taxi ride away from Heathrow....cheap ride....and they will deliver you right to the door of your terminal.

P.S. From you other thread......I think since your grandson "has done some research and wants to go to the Roman Baths in Bath", I think you might consider a day trip to Bath from London so he can do that.
London Walks has such a trip, or you could do it on your own by taking the train there & back to London.

Train travel from London to Bath is easy.
Train travel from London to Oxford is easy.
One of the things my husband and I have enjoyed during our many visits to England is going everywhere by train.....We are happy to be rid of the car. We have enough of that at home, and it's a joy to just step onto a train in England.

I grew up a few miles from Lavenham and often end up at the Swan for an afternoon tea when I travel back home. There is no real direct connection from London and it is on the opposite side of the country from the Cotswolds. While Lavenham is lovely with its 1/2 timbered medieval crooked houses, there is not a lot to do there. It is best seen by car so you can explore other villages nearby such as Kersey, Long Melford and Dedham (Constable country).

You could also get to Lavenham by taking an East Anglian train out of Liverpool Street Station to Marks Tey then take the line to Sudbury (where I worked for several years) and then taxi out to Lavenham. I had some American friends visit this past June and they were done in 1/2 day. They also had to go into the Swan Hotel to order a taxi back to the station. Its quite a sleepy village. With your Itinerary, I think it would be more travel hassle than its worth. There are plenty of other places to visit nearer to the Cotswolds. East Anglia should perhaps be the focus of your next trip.

Thank you all very much for your input! I already have London planned out. This will be my fourth trip to London and my family’s first so we are staying in the city and not doing day trips. One of the days, they will be attending a premier league game. Our grandsons are 12 and 14 years old.

After London, we will take the train from London Waterloo to Salisbury to get the rental cars. We’ll go to Stonehenge then head north to Chipping Campden and perhaps stop in some villages along the way. The next two days will be exploring the Cotswolds. They really want to go to Diddly Squat Farm. I also thought they might enjoy the British Motor Museum. They are car guys.

I don’t think we have enough time to do Bath justice. My husband and I have been twice and really enjoyed it. I would want to spend more time than a day there. I thought since the 14 yo wanted to see Roman ruins, we could go to Chedworth Roman Villa while in the Cotswolds. I’ll also plan to see some ruins in London.

My husband and I stayed in the Cotswolds for five nights a few years ago so we have seen quite a bit of the area so we wanted to spend the last two nights elsewhere. We also stayed overnight in Windsor and visited Blenheim Palace for an afternoon.

I should have been more clear in my original message. My family leaves Chipping Campden on 19 Apr to depart from Heathrow. My husband and I have Saturday and Sunday night then our flight is on 21 Apr from Heathrow. The flight is scheduled to leave at 17:35. Ideally, we’d be at Heathrow around 13:00. I was hoping to see another part of the countryside after the Cotswolds. Lavenham’s architecture has always fascinated me. We prefer the smaller towns so we don’t really want to go to Oxford.

Perhaps some of the smaller towns/villages west of Cambridge then to Heathrow the last morning would be better? Any suggestions for where to stay?

near the junction of the A14 and the A1 is a lovely riverside town of St Ives - not to be confused with the very popular town in Cornwall - with a very nice bakery (Tom's) who do tasty cakes.

On a more historic note, the (now pedestrian only) the bridge across the River Great Ouse was re-built in 1425 and incorporates a chapel midway across. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StIvesBridge There is a working National Trust watermill just down the road and the Fens are nearby. Staying west of Cambridge a bigger town is Huntingdon. All this area was frequented by the diarist Samuel Pepys and so much remains 400 years later. A very pleasant area and town - I visit as often as I can. Not too far away, just south of Huntingdon, is another very pleasant riverside place, Godmanchester. Very scenic.

The problem is getting from that area, presumably by car, to Heathrow by just after lunch. Does that time include the return of the car?

There are three major car routes from the Cambridge, St Ives, Huntingdon area to the M25 London Orbital Motorway which circles greater London and leads to Heathrow.

The three routes from west to east are the M1 - reachable by the A428/A421 to Bedford and south; the A1 - passes through Huntingdon, very narrow lanes, many speed averaging cameras and low speeds before it finally turns into the A1M) many miles south; worst of all is the Black Cat Roundabout (also used by the A421) and in the process of being rebuilt with lots of lane closures, diversions and delays; and the M11 from Cambridge to East London - only two lane motorway and gives the longest exposure to the M25 and all its problems.

East Anglia is not well linked to the rest of the country.

I'd allow 2 plus hours for the drive to Heathrow on a good day.

For me, it would be too much stress before a flight.

If you don't have a car and can get from where you will be to a station at Cambridge, Huntingdon, St Neots (down the A1 from the A14) these all have trains into London Kings Cross station, figure an hour, and then tube or tube and Elizabeth Line to Heathrow, figure an hour for the tube or a bit less for the tube to Farringdon and the change to the Elizabeth line. No traffic and perhaps more reliable time prediction....

I should have been more clear in my original message. My family leaves Chipping Campden on 19 Apr to depart from Heathrow. My husband and I have Saturday and Sunday night then our flight is on 21 Apr from Heathrow. The flight is scheduled to leave at 17:35. Ideally, we’d be at Heathrow around 13:00. I was hoping to see another part of the countryside after the Cotswolds. Lavenham’s architecture has always fascinated me. We prefer the smaller towns so we don’t really want to go to Oxford.

So, let’s restate this. You have two days between the Cotswolds and Heathrow and you wish you see another part of the country with a different architectural style, and you liked the look of Lavenham. Is that about right?

I wonder if somewhere such as Herefordshire would suit? It’s on the same side of the country as the Cotswolds and Heathrow and would save trekking all the way across to East Anglia. The Black & White trail would give you a real sense of something very different without going as far.

https://www.leominstertourism.com/thingstodo/black-and-white-village-trail/

In fact there’s currently a whole nother thread about it in this forum!

I should add that I love East Anglia and the area about Lavenham, but one of the joys of the UK is that there are gorgeous regions with very distinctive architecture all over the place.

Thank you all for your help. I appreciate it.