Ground Transportation from London

From where in London? Heathrow? Gatwick? Somewhere else? Could affect the advice. Will you be picked up in Preston? Are you actually staying in Preston or are you being picked up from there? ie is Preston the final destination. Are you going to the golf courses around Liverpool/Fylde coast? A bit more information would mean more sensible advice.

I often travel from London to (beyond) Preston and use the train. Direct train from Euston. Takes about 2 and a half hours.

Katy

Thanks! We will be departing a yet-to-be determined London hotel and going to the Barton Grange Hotel north of Preston.

I would take the train. To simplify things, unless there are other considerations, I would look for a hotel with easiest access to Euston - Bloomsbury area maybe. A regular and straightforward service to Preston, takes about two and a half hours. You can book up to 12 weeks in advance to secure best prices for tickets - sometimes I have been lucky and first class tickets are not that much more expensive than the second class.

Katy

So each person will have one suitcase/roller bag and a golf bag?

Pre-book about 11 weeks ahead - when the cheaper Advance fares appear for specific trains.https://www.virgintrains.co.uk
(Check for group discounts). EUS > PRE

Thanks to all for the commentary. Greatly appreciated. So a golf bag and a suitcase for each of the six passengers is doable on the train?

Take the train from London Euston station to Preston, its an 2hr 8 minute ride.

You are permitted the following on Virgin Trains:

One item of hand luggage that can fit on your lap
Two larger items of luggage, each not exceeding 30 x 70 x 90 cm in size

Mind you, if everyone brought the latter, there wouldn't be any room for it.

Book seats close to the luggage rack for your convenience and first class as advised above if you can for comfort. Make sure you arrive in good time, although they don't announce the trains that early at Euston.

Three things.

1. I traveled literally from one end of the UK almost to the other in May-June last year. With only a couple of exceptions, it was by train. I made my reservations in advance and got specific seats when I could. It didn't seem to matter how full the train was, people almost never paid any attention to the reserved seats. It worked out okay, because I usually could find somewhere else to sit. I'd mostly made seat reservations at tables, and I learned that I simply could not get my long legs comfortably under the tables if someone sat opposite me, so a regular seat turned out to be better for me anyway. I did not ride in any 1st class coaches, so I don't know if if would be different there, but if it is important to you, be prepared to defend your seat reservations.

2. I rode on no train where I could not get my small roller bag (36 x 56 x 28 cm at maximum expansion) on the rack above me. I was able to have my personal item (33 x 30.5 x 15.25 cm), with me at all times. Starting with the golf bags, you will not be so lucky. And if you travel with large luggage, you will be in a real pickle. People are not exaggerating about the fact that you will have to schlep those golf bags and that luggage everywhere on your own, including up and down steep and crowded narrow steps into and out of trains. Packing light is a mantra here. Many of us pack for a week no matter how long the trip is, and do laundry along the way, sometimes doing it in our lodgings, sometimes having it done for us and sometimes doing it in a laundromat. With heavy golf bags to manage, I'd want my regular luggage to be as easy to deal with as possible. Fortunately, the time of year you are going, 20 July, you might not need quite so many layers, but the weather is variable...

3. I did find that most train stations had elevators or slanted walkways for much of the journey to the platform. In fact, many had signs (at the base of the stairs designed for people to go up, over the tracks and back down to the platform on the other side), strongly recommending that people with any significant luggage, including and illustrated by roller bags, take the elevators. Sometimes those elevators are a bit hard to find, so look for the signs directing you to them or ask someone. I found everyone working at the rail stations extraordinarily helpful.