Cotswolds to St. Pancras for Eurostar

What day of the week, which month, is the Eurostar train trip? Which train are you trying to catch (time of day, not destination, although if you include destination I may well have a morsel or two of helpful information)?

7/29. I'm thinking evening.

and we're going to Paris

I would highly recommend Blenheim Palace, I was there 2 years ago and loved every minute of the grounds and the palace. There's also a great cafe for lunch, if you have the time walk out on the grounds and go to the Victory Column and look back at the palace, it's a view that is awesome. After you leave Blenheim Palace it's just ~10 miles to Oxford and you can stop in at the Eagle and Child pub for two reasons:
1) Excellent Food
2) You can sit where the "inklings" use to sit and discuss their books (The Hobit, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, etc)

The two midweek evening Eurostars to Paris are the 1901 which gets to Paris Gare du Nord at 2217, and the 2001 (arr 2317). I would always prefer not to be on the last train of the day, both because of the very late arrival in Paris and because if anything happens during the day the last train is the most vulnerable.

You need to be checked in (not waiting in the queue to check in) at least 30 minutes before scheduled departure - conventional wisdom now is at least an hour before.

Although the predominant traffic flow in the evening rush hour is out if London, there will be a lot of traffic in all directions, and you will arrive early enough to still be affected by the congestion charge. If you drive in the Zone you need to pay the fee that day; if you don't it gets very expensive.

If you were early enough, you could drive into St Pancras and leave the car there - I'd plan on a minimum 90 minutes to 2 hours from Stow on the Wold. A44-A40-M40- A40 straight(ish) in.

That said, a car could be left at Moreton-in-Marsh and then a nice train ride to Paddington, then tube (busy) or taxi (expensive but less crowded, and they can use bus and taxi lanes) to St Pancras. Or drop it at Heathrow and Heathrow Connect or Express to Paddington (see above) or Piccadilly line to Kings Cross/St Pancras (one hour, rush hour crowded as approach central London).

Thanks Nigel!
Driving the car in and dropping off at St. Pancras would involve the "congestion charge" I'm presuming. How much is that? And from your comments it is active only at certain times?
Thanks Donald!
We will definitely hit the two places you mentioned.

You haven't said from whom you are renting the car (maybe you don't know yet). If it ends up being Hertz, they has a depot not far from Uxbridge station where you could get a Metropolitan train direct to St Pancras.

Marco,
Car rental has not been arranged yet. I thought I would start looking into that after defining the final piece of the UK puzzle which is getting to St. Pancras for the Eurostar from the Cotswolds.
I've also had some thoughts about trying to get into London earlier in the day, allowing my two college-aged kids to take a whirlwind tour of London and then Eurostarring to Paris later.

£11.50 for the Congestion Charge for any entry into the Zone between 07:00 and 18:00, Monday to Friday.

Official information is at http://www.tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/congestion-charge

Many leave the Cotswolds on the train from Moreton-on-Marsh, but it is much shorter if you can arrange to end your trip near Oxford and travel from there to Paddington. Then Circle Line to Kings Cross/St. Pancras.

I just toured Oxford and the cotswolds with kookycotswoldtours.com. Great job on a custom day trip for my family of 5.

Just checked out the kookycotswolds website. I'm usually a very independent traveler but I can see how this kind of tour might be great for that area.

Have you looked into catching the Eurostar at Ashford? We stayed in a really nice B&B 5 mins from the station, maybe they have car rental drop off there?

If you consider Ashford, consider these facts -

Very few of the Eurostar trains stop there now, many more stop at Ebbsfleet International now.

Ashford is practically the end of Kent, to get there you have to go all the way along the M20, a motorway notorious for its congestion.

To get to the M20, you have to spend an hour or two - depending on traffic congestion - going around the M25 from the M40. The M25 is a pretty much circular motorway at around 20 miles radius from London. It is pretty much the only reasonable alternative and it has long stretches of camera controlled electronic speed limits that must be adhered to risking tickets in the post, and you must leave lots of extra time on the M25 where traffic can stop for no reason at all. I spent a lovely 90 minutes last week going just over 10 miles on it, and it wasn't rush hour.

It may look like it would be faster to go around the north (clockwise) if there is predicted traffic to the southern route (counter clockwise / anticlockwise) but it is likely to be worse that way, and there is the question of the toll to cross the river. It is risky to go round that way. Expect mega queues clockwise.

From the M25 to the M20 in Kent there are several miles on the M26.

It will be double the driving distance, with so many risks.

That wouldn't the choice I would make.

It would be fine if you had spent time in Kent, but not to go there to catch the train.

I think I"ll pass on dropping the car off in Ashford.:)

I think I"ll pass on dropping the car off in Ashford.:)