Advice on southern England and Cotswold itinerary

Friday the thirteenth - sorry, but you are attempting far too much driving whilst jet lagged. You will be a danger to yourselves and other road users. Our roads are much busier and significantly narrower than Australian roads. Please consider staying in Windsor. It will most likely be at least noon before you arrive in Windsor and most people spend 3/4 of a day there, so you won’t have time to see anything in Salisbury.

Your drive times are all far too optimistic - if using Google Maps, add at least 25% plus time to find somewhere to park and walk to wherever you are visiting. You haven’t allowed any time for lunch and coffee stops.

Saturday. Stonehenge is probably a 2 hour visit. Last time I went to Lacock, I spent more than 3 hours there. This is a very full day.

Sunday. Parking in Bath is difficult and costly. Using the Park and Ride is preferable, but the first bus is 9.30 on a Sunday. You should allow 2 hours to see the baths - assuming you arrived at opening time, you would only have an hour before you had to leave to for the walk unless you did this after the walk.

Monday. Hidcote is one of my favourite gardens - allow at least 2.5 hours.

The difficulty in arriving in Windsor at around noon (I concur with Jennifer) is that parking there is an absolute bear at any time. Getting there at lunch time will only make it worse. What will you do with the luggage?

And then after seeing the briefest of experiences, I notice that you intend to drive to Salisbury on a Friday as it approaches or is during the evening rush. It starts early on Friday and is the worst one of the week. You will need to be very patient. You might rethink that afternoon and next day.

We have been to nearly all the places that your plan to visit.

Your itinerary is well planned.
I have some thoughts that might be of assistance to you.

1) Rent an automatic with a good navigation system (or have a gps with UK maps).
2)Check when Windsor Castle opens. I remember that we drove there from Heathrow and were there before they opened.
3)Bath, don't waste your time with the HoHo bus. You can walk everywhere in Bath. The Roman Bath Museum is the highlight in Bath. We did a Walking Tour that was good, then came back and did the Roman Bath Museum and Cathedral.

There is a great seafood restaurant in Bath called the Scallop Shell. Fantastic Fish and Chips.https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g186370-d7375906-Reviews-The_Scallop_Shell-Bath_Somerset_England.html

4) We stayed at the Volunteer Inn at Chipping Campden. I recommend it highly, rooms are spacious and there is the best pub in town there as well as a separate very good Indian Restaurant. Rates are great at the Inn.
Broad Campden is one of our favorite little villages, near Chipping Campden, nearly all the houses and buildings have thatched roofs.
Enjoy

We just returned from the UK and went many of the places you are proposing.

I think you are trying to do too much.
Day 1
You will not get to Salisbury in time to see the Cathedral. I agree that spending the night in Windsor makes the most sense. We enjoyed the Cathedral but we were in Salisbury for the afternoon (and would have liked to have had more time).

Day 2
We went with a tour from Bath to Stonehenge. We spent two hours there and I would have spent about a 1/2 more if we had the time. We did not visit Avebury or Lacock so can't comment on those. I will tell you that the roads are narrow and traffic does not move fast.

Day 3

There was a line up at 9 am for the Roman Baths. You will not get through them in time for the city tour. I would do the city tour which is excellent and then the Roman Baths. I would not do Hop on and off bus. Bath is not that big and you will see most everything there is from the outside during the walking tour. The lines are shorter for the Roman Baths in the late afternoon which is when we visited.

Bizarre Bath tour in the evening is super fun.

Day 4 and 5

You will never do everything you have planned for these days in the time you have so I would suggest you decide what is most important to you.

And it will take you longer than you think to get to Chipping Campden.

I agree with most things Jennifer has written, but I would really like to emphasise the driving times. The drivings times shown by google maps are optimistic even under perfect conditions. And on narrow british roads there is always the possibility of other traffic slowing you down with no opportunity to overtake. Also, they only show you the time to your destination, not the time you need to find and pay for parking.

Hello from Wisconsin.

Europe's roads are in much better condition than in the US. And for much of Europe they have more road than cars. England and the US have many things in common. And one is new road building/repair spending. Neither of us spend enough. We don't repair, they don't build. England has more cars than road.

I might exaggerate, but get within 30 miles of a large city and the driving conditions are terrible. And then there is parking. More cars than spots. In Salisbury they have remote tourist parking miles out of the city in farmland and you ride the bus into and out of the city. Sounds awful, but it was excellent compared to trying to find a place to park in the city. But it serves as an example of the parking problems.

New Zealand (we spent 88 days there driving around) and the UK drive on the left side of the road and that is where the similarity ends. NZ is empty. More road than cars. The UK is full.

When you search driving times make sure your map is set to the actual hours you will be on the roads. If you search from Chicago at 7PM for driving times in England, you will get the estimates for driving at 1AM British time.

Wayne iNWI

I agree with everything that's been said but would particularly like to highlight just how bad the traffic is entering Salisbury particularly during rush hour on a Friday evening. I think I'd rather be on the M25, at least you can change lanes and feel like you'e actually doing something!

When you search driving times make sure your map is set to the actual
hours you will be on the roads. If you search from Chicago at 7PM for
driving times in England, you will get the estimates for driving at
1AM British time.

That is a point worth emphasizing! It's also true when using such online tools as the TfL journey planner or the National Rail journey planner. I'm just guessing, but I think some North Americans' optimistic ideas of traveling the UK in rental cars, may stem from those evening online searches at home which don't take the time differences into account. But also, as so well stated, because overall North America has more roads than cars.

I would skip Avebury. It would be a shame to miss a lunch at Sign of the Angel in Lacock village--I think it has a Michelin Star. It is a pub( very old) that has accommodation also, There is free parking to visit the abbey and it is a short walk into the village. Snowshill can take up a good amount of time as they limit the number visiting at one time--we waited an hour to enter.

Thank you very much for the helpful suggestions. I appreciate the time and thought you put into your replies. I will adjust our plans and drop some of the activities to give us a more realistic itinerary. Many thanks!

I would skip Avebury. It would be a shame to miss a lunch at Sign of the Angel in Lacock village--I think it has a Michelin Star. It is a pub( very old) that has accommodation also,

I disagree with this suggestion. In my opinion Avebury is a fantastic place and in some ways better than Stonehenge, you really have to visit to gain an appreciation of the significance of it all and despite food being my primary pre-occupation I don't believe in skipping a visit to Avebury in order to eat at a pub no matter how good the food is. However I will advise against eating at the pub in Avebury, The Red Lion, pretty mediocre.