I've been considering a day trip to the Cotswolds from London. On another forum, I read about the "Secret Cottage" tours. Secret Cottage
Has anyone gone on one of these? They have rave reviews. I know London Walks also does an Oxford/Cotswolds day. Any thoughts? Thank you very much!
We are planning the same however have already decided to do ours with a London Walks group. I know people who have used them and were very pleased.
I was also going to suggest the London Walks tour. I have been on many of their tours and love them. I plan to go on the day trip to the Cotswolds in May with them as well.
It looks like they have two Cotswolds walks:
OXFORD & THE COTSWOLDS - THE GREAT ESCAPE
THE COTSWOLDS IN SPRING
My husband and I were also recommended to do London Walks. The next time we are in London, we will do that. We were very happy with the Evan Evans day tour to the Cotswold's though. It was a bus day tour out of London. We loved the whole tour, but wish we could have stayed longer. We have friends who hired a Cotswold's specialist, who picked them up at their various Cotswold's hotel's everyday and drove them around. They were very impressed with their tour also. I believe they were in the Cotswold's for 10 days though.
I've been to Burton on the Water. I loved the place. Very quaint with lots of shops on either side of the river, great place to visit.
I did the London Walks day trip to the Cotswolds and really enjoyed it -- it was a lovely day out, and something I couldn't have really done otherwise on my own with a day from London.
However, I almost didn't get to go because so many people showed up to go on the walk!! I had arrived at the meeting station (it was Paddington, I don't suppose it's changed) early, but kept wandering around because I thought there was no point in going to the meeting point before time. Boy was I wrong. If it hadn't been for a VERY kind Indian girl who had just moved to London to study, who GAVE ME HER PLACE, I wouldn't have gotten to go (I thanked her profusely, sent her an email later to reinforce how much I appreciate it, and then later sent her a ticket for a social media workshop with a friend of mine who's the chief digital officer at the Met. It was no small thing that she gave up her plans that day so I could enjoy the Cotswold sunshine!!).
So if the advice is still to go find the fellow in the red hat by the such and such info point, you would not be crazy to go 1/2 an hour early to make sure you get a spot.
Somebody (maybe even a couple of people) has posted here on RS Forum about their experience with Secret Cottage tours, if I remember correctly. You could do a search on the site. I remember they were very enthusiastic about their experience.
Anyway, for the London Walks tour, I felt it was well worth the money I paid. They took care of the transport and designing the tour, all I had to do was follow along and enjoy the walk and the sunshine, and the fellow travelers I met!
Thanks for all the info re: London Walks. Indeed, their web site says to look for a guide in a red hat. I'll be sure to search for the Secret Cottage reviews on here too!
