Cotswolds and general itinerary suggestions

@ Tim,
I'm curious why the 3 Cotswolds nights would be split into two locations. Are they that far from each other that just using a base for all 3 nights wouldn't work?

Andrea,

If you prefer having a base for 3 nights then I would recommend Stow.

As Christy likes the idea of 'walking the town' then I believe it would be more interesting to stay in at least 2 towns or even a different one each night. The villages are more enjoyable to walk about in the early morning or in the evening when all the tour buses have left. Actually, my preference would be to stay in Chipping Campden the first night, visit Broadway and Sudley Castle the 2nd day with a night in Stow, and visit the Slaughters and Bourton the 3rd day with a night in Burford.

Thanks for clarifying Tim!

Thanks, Tim!

Are you familiar at all with the Unicorn Hotel in Stow-on-the-Wold?

Christy, sounds like fun. Last year we flew into London, went straight to Bath (lovely town), and visited the Cotswolds for a day trip from Bath a day later. As for Cotswolds towns, you cannot do wrong with either Stow or Chipping Campden. I prefer Chipping Campden, but it is fine for a day trip too. Both have lovely pubs (Eight Bells Inn - Chipping Campden!), shops and easy access to walks outside of town that are so perfect for the Cotswolds. I prefer staying in one place without changing hotels, but the towns are all so close there it hardly seems that much trouble if you'd like to sleep in different places or if you prefer just to drive around and then back to a single home base. We picked our car up in Bath and found the drive from Bath to the Cotswolds to be pretty easy (even for a first time driver in the UK) and scenic. The train to and from London from Bath is easy and only 90 minutes or so. Enjoy your trip!

Just to correct Tim on the train service between Oxford and Bath.

There are two trains each hour between the two cities. One is a through train; the other requires a change at Birmingham. In addition, you could go via London, but that would require more changes, including a tube ride.

Journey times are between 3 and a half and four hours. Details are at www.nationalrail.co.uk/.

Keith - I made a mistake in my posting, and referred to the train service between Oxford and Bath when it should have been between Oxford and York. In his now disappeared posting, Tim had stated that there was a service between Oxford and York in the morning and another in the afternoon. I wanted to point out that they were much more frequent than that.

Thanks to all for the input! It is just so hard to decide which one, as they all look so inviting!

Now a question about Bath.... Looks like it's almost impossible to stay in Bath for just 1 night on a Saturday night(our arrival night) . So, thinking of staying 2 nights there, picking up the rental car on Monday. I'm assuming the rental car companies would deliver the car? Or, where are the rental car companies located in relation to city center?

Traffic is horrendous in Bath, particularly during tourist season when a fair chunk of the centre becomes a pedestrian zone. Hotel prices can be scary, too, on a par if not higher than London. Your car rental agency should be able to advise on the best strategy for pick-up (if they can't, consider someone else) but I'd prefer to start driving from outside the city centre.

The plan is for the first week of May. Would we find Bath crazy busy at that time?...what about renting the car at Heathrow? Is that a ridiculous place to learn how to drive on the left? Bath is not set in stone. Am open to other suggestions for a night or 2 just after we arrive in England , before we go the Cotswolds... Just need to get this rental car situation straight in my head. I probably will go to AAA and let them handle the rental.

We always rent our car at Heathrow and find it easy going the direction you will be going because you can go quite a ways on the M4. The signage is good coming out of the airport too, and a GPS helps a lot.

Thanks, Sharon, I am certainly considering this option. Looks like it might be kind of tough to rent in Bath on the days i'm looking at. Looks like the rental places are closed on Sunday and Monday that week.. Closest one is in Bristol, 10 miles away. Guess we could take a taxi to pick it up.