England- family of 4-

Hi, we are 4 adults also travelling to England in May and we are staying 3 nights in London then taking the train to Oxford to pick up our rental car for our week stay in the Cotswolds, drive up to the Lake District and on to a few night stays in different areas of Scotland, returning the car at the Edinburgh Airport for our flight home. Renting a car at Heathrow is more expensive so we thought we'd just take the train from London out of the city to pick up our car; missing all that traffic. We've always had a good experience with Auto Europe and it's best to book in advance (I assume you're from North America as this applies from here) as it's cheaper.
It's also cheaper to rent a standard shift vehicle.
This way you do get the train experience.
Cheers,
Jean

Oh thank you! That is very helpful!!!!!!!!!

When is the best time ( in advance) to get the cheaper rates on the trains?

the cheaper tickets are train specific and are known as Advance tickets

they go on sale about 12 weeks before your travel date (though London to Edinburgh tickets can be on sale 24 weeks ahead)

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

Love the Lake District. We reached the Lake District by train for both of our visits.
http://www.thetrainline.com/nearest-station/lake-district

Nearest Station to Lake District The nearest train station to the Lake
District is Oxenholme Rail Station, which serves as a good base to
explore Kendal. However, depending on which part of the Lake District
you wish to visit, you can also get trains to Windermere, Carlisle,
Barrow, Kendal and Penrith. When travelling from within England you
can get connections to the Lake District from many of the main
stations, including Manchester, Newcastle, London, Edinburgh, Glasgow,
York and Leeds.

Emma, That was my original plan, but I got talked out of it on another forum. (the London to Oxford and back part) Everyone said "why backtrack back to London, just to get the train to Liverpool? They said it would be more time consuming and more expensive- than to just keep the car and drive to L'pool with a family of 4. And yes, the days do include arrival and departures. I reckon, if we left London by 10 am, we would have most of the 6th to drive around the Cotswolds, and then we could have some time in the morning to have breakfast and drive anything else near there, and then head up to Liverpool. We could arrive in L'pool by 3 or 4 and be fine..... I really loved the train ( this was 25 years ago) but then I was mostly on my own, and did not drive. My husband says he is happy to drive- he is not bothered by new rules! Everyone on the other forum thought that I was worrying about taking the trains, when we could be getting everywhere faster and easier with a car......

Also, the days in L'pool and LD are non negotiable.... we have hotels booked and are meeting friends in the LD.... the question still is- if we rent a car, don't we have time to see the cotswolds in that time? The other question is that we are spending the last four days of our trip driving around rural Ireland in the south west area..... would we get a Cotswolds type scenery fix
in that part of Ireland?

is your family of 4 all over 15 and under 60? If so, then it is indeed 4 adults.

If not, then under 15s are half price, and under 5 are free of charge.

Groupsave tickets for various sized groups of 3 or more save about a third.

Depending on the ages, and if travel by train will be fairly extensive a family card or a two together railcard can save plenty of money but there are conditions.

Advance Tickets save the most and can have railcard discounts applied against them.

Are the 4 actually all adults and not seniors?

Yep all adults- from 57-17.