Help with London, Cotswolds & Edinburgh Itinerary

the best station for the northern Cotswolds is probably Moreton-in-Marsh on the GWR Cotswold Line from London Paddington Station.

The two main routes from London to Edinburgh originate at two stations not far from each other on the north side of London.

Kings Cross station has Lumo and LNER trains which goes frequently and quickly on the East Coast Main Line, the LNER via York.

Euston station just down the road has Avanti West Coast trains which run up to Edinburgh slightly less frequently and slightly less quickly on the West Coast Main Line.

The connection between the northern Cotswolds and Edinburgh is a bit more complicated, needing to get you to Birmingham where you can pick up the Avanti train to Edinburgh. There are other possibilities which involve getting you across the country to the East Coast trains.

Unfortunately the Cotswold Line heads away from where you want to be. You could take a bus from Moreton in Marsh to Stratford-upon-Avon and then the slow train to Birmingham where you need to change stations - but that is a real faff in my opinion.

Or you take the train from Moreton-in-Marsh to Worcestershire Parkway and get the Cross Country train diagonally all the way across the country to York and up. I wouldn't suggest that although it is only one change, but 5 and a half hours on a Cross Country I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

Or do as suggested in the one just above but leave the Cross Country train at Birmingham New Street after half an hour for the much more comfortable and often less crowded Avanti West Coast up the West Coast. That's 40 minutes faster, and in my opinion much nicer, but it does involve 2 changes of train.

Either way it is a full day of travel.

You could also make your way to Cheltenham Spa if you aren't staying in or near Moreton-in-Marsh and make similar connections.

Or if you were going to London after the Cotswolds, or if you intend on the southern Cotswolds, the train from Kings Cross to Edinburgh requires no changes and does the journey in only round about 4 hours.

It would be helpful if you could lay out some of the things you want to see and do in London, the Cotswolds and Edinburgh. Why did you choose those three?

How do you expect to get around if you don't want to hire a car?

You definitely won’t need a car in London or Edinburgh, so really the Cotswolds is the only place you need to worry about. That said, have you considered a tour there? Mad Max has tours that explore the Cotswolds that would eliminate the need for you to have a car. You could take the train to Bath, which is where they originate. https://www.madmaxtours.co.uk/

Another possible route from Moreton in Marsh to Edinburgh, which should be open by next May is train to Oxford, then the new line to Milton Keynes, then Avanti (or the slower London North Western) to Crewe, same platform change to Edinburgh.
If the connections work right then that may turn out to be the fastest route by then and avoid the need to change at Birmingham New Street. Until an opening date is announced that is theoretical.

Rabbies also has tours of the Cotswolds, from London, and this might be easier than taking trains to and fro -www.rabbies.com
We have taken several tours, from Edinburgh, and very much enjoyed them.

So much great information to digest! Thank you!
In the Cotswolds, sans car, I was looking at one, or a combination of tours, mentioned in Rick’s book “Best of England incl Edinburgh”. For tours he recommends “Go Cotswolds”, “Cotswolds by Car” and “Secret Cottage Cotswold Tours”. Maybe the inclusion of The Cotswolds is really complicating things but I am more about rural areas than the cities. That said, I am looking forward to experiencing all that London and Edinburgh have to offer, in the time that we have. We only spent (2) nights in London on the last trip and none in Edinburgh.
Maybe I should consider a tour, from London, out to the Cotswolds, and back in the same day. I imagine that option exists.
Again, thank you for your thoughtful input. I appreciate your time!

hmmmm

more about the rural than the cities, want to get as much as possible out of Edinburgh and London, could maybe do a day tour to the Cotswolds, mid to late May... hmmmm

have you considered swapping out the Cotswolds for a visit to the Lake District? The West Coast Main Line (Avanti West Coast) goes right by, there's a station at Oxenholme for the Lake District which has a local train which runs down the short run to Windermere.

You could go one way on the West Coast and the other on the faster East Coast.

That would take the minimum travel time away from Edinburgh and London. And the Lake District is considerably more rural than most parts of the Cotswolds, and it is seriously beautiful.

by the way - are you aware that the Late May Bank Holiday is at the end of your trip, on Monday the 25th, you're departing Wednesday the 27th?

The trains and other transport will be very busy, especially if the weather is good, for the whole long weekend. You may want to build in provision as you consider which order to do things...

Thanks so much for that info. and Lake District idea Arctophilia. We actually stayed in Hawkshead that previous trip. Had thought I would pick Grasmere if I had a 2nd opportunity. And you are so right - gorgeous!
Would it be too much to try to get up to Edinburgh when we land at 11am on the 15th? Then we start making our way back down on the 19th or 20th, ahead of the holiday. Go up along the East and back down along the West?
Another idea is to hire a driver to get us from LHR to a location in the Cotswolds but just sounds like getting from there up to Edinburgh will be pretty complicated.
Ahhhh, the options.

If coming down from Edinburgh to the Lake District it should take just 90 minutes by train to Penrith- which is an essentially hourly service. They alternate between Avanti West Coast and Trans Pennine.
I would change at Penrith for Grasmere. There is the half hourly X4/X5 bus to Keswick, change onto the mainly half hourly (sometimes hourly) 555 to Grasmere. It is a level change from train platform to bus stop at Penrith Railway Station.
Or, if you haven't done it before the every two hours 508 bus from Penrith over the Kirkstone Pass to Windermere then the 599 Open Top every 20 minutes to Grasmere. You could even get off the 508 at Pooley Bridge Steamer Pier and take the boat the length of Ullswater to Glenridding then the next bus to Windermere (as far as Glenridding the 508 is hourly).

Coming just on the Bank Holiday weekend most places will probably be on a 3 night minimum stay.

I wouldn't leave to go back to London until Tuesday 26 May. The word on the block is that there is an awful lot of trackwork to do between Preston and Carlisle over the next few years (partly to do with repairs to the M6 motorway between Exits 37 and 38) so I would be surprised if trains were running north of Oxenholme over the 3 day weekend. From Windermere to London by train is basically 3 hours, every hour, normally.
The broad expectation is that every Holiday weekend for the next 3 to 5 years will be disrupted on the West Coast through the Lake District.

In principle going to Edinburgh the day of arrival should be OK IF the flight is on time.

What you do is to buy a Flex 70 ticket for, let's say the 3pm train from Kings Cross. That ticket allows you to take any train within 70 minutes +- of your booked train- so in that case the 2pm, 2.30pm, 3pm, 3.30pm or 4pm.
Now clearly if the flight is over about 150 minutes late then you miss even the 4pm train, so buy a whole new (expensive) ticket.

croony55 is correct that Rabbies has some good tours. And they do base some of them out of London, including their Cotswolds tour. You can find more information here: https://www.rabbies.com/en-gb/tours/england/from-london

It’s the Cotswolds that are the real outlier (and a bit overrated, frankly) and there is plenty of beautiful Britain more directly between London and Edinburgh. How about York, with one or two of many day trips from there into Yorkshire? Or Durham? Both of these are on the main line between London and Edinburgh.

Thanks so much for the added tips. Given our route of travel I have wondered about York (Thanks Slate - love that name!). Would just like an added leg, very quaint and a little less traveled, than London & Edinburgh. That’s where The Cotswolds entered the mix. We stayed in Bourton on the trip a long time ago and loved it. It didn’t seem overrun at the time. But we also had a car and could get around.
I really like that both York and Durham have rivers. We live in the desert so all about rivers and streams (I grew up on a river in Maryland).

If using trains, a walk up ticket will be the most expensive. It is far cheaper to buy Advance tickets. These go on sale around 12 weeks prior to the travel date. They are tied to a specific departure so you need to have fixed travel days and times.
You can save a third on off peak fares by using a Railcard costing £35 for a year. There's one called a TwoTogether railcard which covers two named travellers and still costs £35.
Split ticketing is another. Say, a train from A to C stopping at B on the way costs £100. A ticket from A to B may cost £25 and a ticket from B to C may cost £30. So you can buy two tickets and stay on the same train, same seats with careful planning.
have a look at www.nationalrail.com