Cotswolds Holiday Rental Company

We were in Moreton for two weeks last year, which is a very good spot without a car. No personal experience with Stay Cotswolds but they have been around for a while and I vaguely recall their storefront last year when we visited Stowe. I'd give them a go. Many of the rentals are on more than one site.

I don't know where you are going before of after but Moreton is good base for Oxford (two days at least for me), Blenheim and Woodstock, Moreton/Slaughters/Stowe one way, Broadway and Chipping Campden the other way.
Saw a matinee play in Stratford. A couple of gardens and an arboretum close by. More by bus, train and the Robin Service.

Thank you for your reply. We are actually planning on starting the holiday in Oxford and spending the better part of two days there. The reviews for this company look favorable and the cottage we are looking into is very well placed for what we want to do. It looks like a beautiful area and hopefully won’t be too overrun with tourists in mid September.

Mustlovedogs, good plan to spend a couple of days in Oxford.

There are buses that leave from Oxford and go the very short distance north to Blenheim and Woodstock.
Woodstock is the small village just outside the gates to Blenheim Palace.
There are several pubs there that are much better for lunch than the cafe inside Blenheim Palace.
I recommend The Star Inn....great food.
If you arrive in the morning when they open, seeing Blenheim Palace may take you 2 to 3 hours, then you can walk outside the gates and have lunch at The Star. A bus back to Oxford leaves from Woodstock.
This timing depends upon how much time you might spend walking in the gardens. For house only, it will be relatively quick. Good gift shop, though; worth a look.

Seeing Blenheim Palace and Woodstock from Moreton-In-Marsh is not really convenient unless you had a car and could leave Oxford, drive north, and see both of them, and then go onward to Moreton.

I don't have any experience with Stay Cotswolds; sorry, but Booking has 47 properties listed for M-I-M. You could browse through those.

https://www.booking.com/searchresults.html?label=msn-UekoQ3eZn5tz2Aj5xVambQ-80470689759002%3Atikwd-80470854806716%3Aloc-190%3Aneo%3Amte%3Alp64797%3Adec%3
Aqsstay+cotswolds+holiday+cottages&sid=c5e1569b0edc5eda7302d17fe3bd5d5a&aid=2140979&nflt=sth%253D326&city=-260
3439

Hi Sam, we are tweaking a plan and as usual, trying to figure out how to squeeze in places in a short amount of time! On the front end of our trip we would arrive early (6:30 am) to LHR if there are no delays. Then take the Airline bus to Oxford. Drop off our bags and have all the rest of that day to sightsee. Of course, it is arrival day after an overnight flight, so we’ll probably flag a bit later in the afternoon. Spend the night and have as much of the day as we care to (I would ask the hotel to hold our luggage again) before taking the train to Moreton in Marsh to check into a cottage. Do you think this amount of time will be sufficient? We could add another night in Oxford, and take off one in the Cotswolds. I already adjusted my original plan of having a full day in London before heading home in order to stay in the Cotswolds area another day.

Thanks for giving me more ideas to consider!

Mustlovedogs,
If I am reading this right, you would spend in Oxford:
-your arrival day
-one night
-the next day asking the hotel to hold your bags, a walk around town
-travel that afternoon to Moreton-In-Marsh

I think that is not enough nights in Oxford, but that is just me.
If you care nothing about going to the museums there, then you will have adequate time to walk around and look. If you want to go to the museums, I'd add one more night in Oxford.

Ah, now I see your other thread. Did you decide to do the HF Holidays?
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/hf-holidays-cotswolds-thoughts

In the other thread, you mention you'd like to do The Secret Cotswolds trip with GoCotswolds. An excellent choice.

Here’s the current tentative plan. I submerged it in another thread as I always seem to do as my stream of consciousness trip planning progresses! The patience you people must have with me! Lol I think we have decided to try to do the walks on our own in order to give us more independence and flexibility. Try it this time, at least.

Friday- fly out overnight to LHR
Saturday- arrive early. Bus to Oxford. Drop off bags at hotel, sightsee rest of day till jet lag rears its head.
Sunday- sightsee in Oxford (see if hotel will hold bags for us). Take late afternoon train to Moreton in Marsh. Check in cottage.
Monday- do self guided walk
Tuesday- self guided walk
Wednesday- self guided walk
Thursday- would sign up for the Secret Villages tour by Go Cotswolds. (Offered on Thursdays in September)
Friday- sign up for Southern Cotswolds Villages and Bath tour. (Offered on Fridays)
Saturday- train back to Paddington. Stay one night at Premier Inn Paddington Station. Poke around London rest of day.
Sunday- Heathrow Express - flight home

So, with this, and considering what Oxford has to offer, I am wondering about the exchange of staying there Sunday and Monday nights, and check into the Cottage Tuesday. We could then delete the tour to the Southern Cotswolds and Bath for another walking day, which we really want to keep. Lots to consider here.

Continuing on…mulling over what you said about Museum time, I don’t see us wanting to spend as much time in museums this trip, as I am trying to gear it to seeing more of the countryside and outdoor environments. So, maybe just keeping the one night in Oxford would suffice, especially if we stayed into the later afternoon.

Have you taken any of the Go Cotswolds tours? The Southern Villages and Bath one in particular?

Hello Mustlovedogs,
Yes, I have taken all of their tours (all excellent) except for the Bath & Southern Cotswolds tour.
It's my understanding that really the only Cotswolds village you see on that tour is Castle Combe; pretty enough.
I think you can be confident that this trip will be done well, as all their other trips are.

Unless the timetable changes in December there is no through train nowadays from Stratford on Avon to Paddington, you change at Leamington Spa. That either takes you to London Marylebone or you have a second change at Reading, for Paddington.

From the Cotswolds to Blenheim you take the train to Hanborough.

You can then walk in through the estate, maybe having visited Winston Churchills grave first at Bladon Churchyard. Or take bus S7 (Witney to Oxford) from the station entrance or Bladon Church direct to Woodstock (outside the Palace Gates, or the Marlborough Arms pub) every 30 minutes (every hour on a Sunday)

Doing some more research on where to stay in the Cotswolds and read that Chipping Camden is less busy that Moreton in Marsh, yet still well connected to bus routes for public transport. Would it be a better pick than Moreton in Marsh for a base for us to do various walks, see the villages, etc? The Go Cotswolds tour company that we hope to use picks up in Moreton in Marsh at 9:30 am and the train station is there for coming in from Oxford, which would be convenient. But I guess we could bus there in the morning before the tour and upon arrival to the Cotswolds. Just curious how you all think they compare before I narrow things down more.

I think you might enjoy Chipping Camden more than Moreton in Marsh. We have stayed in MiM twice and while it is very convenient for the train station, Chipping Camden is more attractive IMO.

You could do that, the first bus arrives at MiM at 0909, and was a school service from Stratford on Avon to Chipping Campden before picking you up.
In generally making your plans be aware that is the first service of the morning into MiM in the morning from CC.

It may also be generally helpful for you to be aware of the Cotswolds Robin bus service- https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/transport/the-robin/where-can-i-travel/cotswolds-north/

Thank you for the feedback on this village katiecem and the bus link Stuart. I am looking more into it now.

don't expect Chipping Campden to be a village. It is a market town. The Market Charter was given in 1170, and it has been a market town since then.

The word "Chipping" in the name means "Market" or "Market-Place".

The current market hall was built in 1627 and has a long history of sheep trading in the market.

A beautiful town.

Once again, I am learning more about the phrases used in England. For example, the differentiation between village vs. market town. Thanks Nigel. It does look lovely and with the connection to Moreton in Marsh bus, it might be a great option. I’m looking at The Volunteer Inn or a self- catering cottage for our stay and comparing to what I found in Moreton in Marsh.

At the end of this work in progress trip, if we were to depart on a Saturday from Chipping Campden to go back to London Paddington (for the day before going home from LHR on Sunday) would the most efficient way be to request a ride on the Robin or pre- order a taxi to go to Honeybourne train station for the GWR train? Or, do the same and go to Moreton in Marsh to take the train back into Paddington? Thanks for your advice!

Honeybourne is the station before MiM, so it's the same trains, just a bit closer to get to. The Robin doesn't serve Honeybourne so it would have to be taxi.

It is an unstaffed, two platform station (used to be 5) with just a small, simple waiting shelter on each platform, rather out of the village. No facilities, even toilets.

So however you get there my preference would be MiM, a bigger staffed station with toilets (both to 1230 on a Saturday)

The normal bus #1 or 2 goes from CC to MiM station at 0835, 0945, 1145, 1345, 1619 and 1750.

Doing some more research on where to stay in the Cotswolds and read that Chipping Camden is less busy that Moreton in Marsh, yet still well connected to bus routes for public transport. Would it be a better pick than Moreton in Marsh for a base for us to do various walks, see the villages, etc? The Go Cotswolds tour company that we hope to use picks up in Moreton in Marsh at 9:30 am and the train station is there for coming in from Oxford, which would be convenient. But I guess we could bus there in the morning before the tour and upon arrival to the Cotswolds. Just curious how you all think they compare before I narrow things down more.

A plan to arrive at M-I-M in plenty of time for the 9:30 AM pick-up could go OK or NOT. I would do it the easy way, here, and just wait for the van to come to you in your base of CC.

https://www.gocotswolds.co.uk/product/cotswolds-in-a-day/
The second stop on the Cotswolds In A Day tour is Chipping Campden; so instead of taking the train to Moreton-In-Marsh to meet the tour, just tell them, when you make your reservation for the tour, that you want to be picked up in Chipping Campden when the tour comes to there.

Schedule for this tour:
Dover’s Hill (Nice....but just a view from a hilltop...If you had to miss this, it wouldn't be the end of the world.)
Chipping Campden (1 hour)
Snowshill
Stow-on-the-Wold
Bibury
Bourton-on-the-Water
The last 5 stops on this tour are what makes it. You'll have plenty to see.

When the tour is over, you could either (A) take a bus back from Bourton-0n-the-Water to Chipping Campden, or (B) continue on to Moreton-In-Marsh with the tour, and then take a bus back to CC. You choice.
Do tell your tour leader if you will be doing "A" because he will be counting faces and looking for you if you just vanish in Bourton.

P.S. This plan leaves you time in the morning to have a decent breakfast and not rush around.

Plan A above there is no direct service bus from Bourton on the Water to Chipping Campden. It would be a change in Moreton in Marsh by service bus.

I actually am looking at the Secret Villages tour vs. the Cotswolds in a Day. I think we may be able to see some of the places on the Cotswolds in a Day tour during our week on our own. If we do two of their tours, the Secret Villages and The Southern Cotswolds and Bath, it would be suitable for what I am sketching out. Thanks for trying to help with the logistics!