Biddulph Grange Garden-Train Help!

The site to use for this is http://www.nationalrail.co.uk. It says Cheltenham to Windermere is around 4 hours, and Cheltenham to Congelton is between 2 and 2 1/2 hours.

Windermere to Heathrow is a little bit tricky, because if you put "Heathrow" as your destination on the National Rail site, it will try to put you on the Heathrow Express, which is not necessarily the best way to get to Heathrow from outside of London. Locals may be able to tell you more about your other options than I can. But if you're just interested in how long it will take (and can leave the cost and logistics to later), that's about 4-5 hours.

Cheltenham to Windermere is pretty straightforward but by trying to get to Biddulph Grange, you are going to make things a lot more ‘awkward’. In my opinion, it is simply not worth the hassle & well nigh impossible to do all this in 1 day. This site will tell you how to do it and how to then get onward to Windermere:>http://www.traveline.info

I take it that you are aware that if you just walk into Cheltenham Spa rail station on the day & purchase a ticket to Windermere that it will cost you a whopping £106.50? I have just checked for Mon *9 July and by splitting the ticket at Birmingham (New Street), it can be done for much less. For example, pre-booking the leg from CNM > BHM I can do this for around £8. I then found a London to Glasgow express leaving Birmingham at 11.15 with a fare of £27 to Windermere. (You must leave this Virgin express at Oxenholm and change to a local train for the short journey to Windermere). Be sure to leave the trains promptly on arrival as they don’t hang about.
* Don’t forget that Americans write the date the wrong way around compared to everyone else!

(You earlier said that you would like to make a day trip from Bath to Cardiff. If you have not already booked accommodation, you could consider staying in Cardiff and then going to Cheltenham before proceeding north).

I am going to purchase a Britrail pass as that is cheapest for an adult and one child. I think that way I am worrying less about which trains and what cost--that covers all the trains right?

But is there a "half way" point from Cheltenham to Windermere where we could easily stop off, see something close enough to the train station, and then get back on and make it to Windermere? I guess I was trying to think of a way to see one more little town or something before we get to Windermere...but perhaps that's too ambitious traveling with a 5 yr old?

how old is the child? Under 5's are free on British railways (some preserved railways (old) excluded) and 5 to 16 half price, but if you are spending loads of money for a rail pass you should know that for £30 a family can get huge amounts off tickets with a Family and Friends Railcard.

Please don't buy a railpass out of frustration. Only buy it if it makes sense.

We can help. Really.

My daughter will be almost 6 at the time of the trip. I think the rail pass makes more sense because I want the flexibility of deciding the day of to do a side trip or not. This will be our first time traveling abroad and I think she is a good traveler but I just don't want to wear her out or plan too much.

If I am going from Cheltenham to Windermere is there a easy halfway stop to see something? I'd like to break up the 4 hour ride from Cheltenham to Windermere if possible. I don't know what is worth seeing up that way. Any other pretty gardens that are close to train stations?

When you go from Bath to Cardiff for the day, the day return fare remains the same at around £21 per adult - slightly less for departures after 9.30am on weekdays with no restrictions on Saturdays. (Sundays - fewer trains and engineering works can cause disruptions). As I have already explained, on some journeys - such as Cheltenham to Windermere, it can be very expensive to just show up and purchase a ticket. Even then, it can be cheaper to purchase split tickets and I did suggest that splitting at Birmingham (where you change trains) would result in lower prices. So, what you need to work out is the daily rate cost of the Britrail Pass v the cost of actually buying tickets. (I suspect that the daily rate of Britrail would be more than than the pay on the day £21 approx that it would cost for a Bath > Cardiff return and the bog standard ticket would allow you to use any train).

With such a young child, she may not appreciate some of the historic things that you would like. I remember taking three kids out on a trip and the highlight was jumping off massive sand dunes on the coast. Another thing they like doing is exploring rock pools and trying to catch little fishes. Anyway, regarding your Cheltenham to Windermere trip: I would suggest that you go to Birmingham (New Street) and then have a wander around central Birmingham - which has some fine Victorian Buildings not far from the station. Not sure if the little girl would appreciate it but Birmingham would be an easy stop on your journey north.
http://visitbirmingham.com/what-to-do/shopping/

I don’t think it’s very practical to break your four-hour journey, visit gardens, then get back on a train north. What will you do with luggage? Yes if you were doing this by car but not by train.

Either just go straight to Windermere, or if you don’t wish to travel that far north what about heading south to Dorset and the coast? https://www.visit-dorset.com/

That's true--I didn't think about the luggage. I will take a look at Dorset. I hadn't considered that area before. Is there a particular town that has easy train access that you would recommend?