HF Holidays Cotswolds Thoughts

I planned and took myself on my own walking holiday in the Cotswolds earlier this year, so I can't tell you anything about HF Holidays specifically. Except that, before I decided I could plan my own trip myself, to the places I wanted to go to, I did look at their offerings. I wanted to be in a different village each night, and that's not their model.

Another possible suggestion on getting to your tour beginning. I flew into LHR, and didn't want to add time by having to go east into London, then taking a train back west to Moreton in Marsh. Instead, from LHR I took OXF the Bus (very easy) to Oxford, which I have wanted to visit for a while. I had a lovely overnight stay there, and cannot say enough good things about the Ashmolean Museum. From Oxford, I easily took the train to Moreton in Marsh, which is where I began my walking tour.

If you overnight in Moreton in Marsh, before you join HF Holidays, and if you or anyone in your group is a Lord of the Rings Fan, look into the Bell Inn. I loved it!

Also, if you end up in Cheltenham at any point, I highly recommend the MUSE Brasserie. A delicious blend of French and Indian.

Enjoy

We are still months away from our next trip and I have already been checking out HF Holidays Self Guided tours for the year after that (of course they aren't posted for 2027 yet but I can extrapolate :). With the self guided tours you can walk as much or as little as you like each day. Being one place for 5-7 nights with meals sounds interesting. And the prices seem good as long as you don't go in summer. It would be one week of a 4-5 week trip.

Hello Mustlovedogs!
We stayed at the HF Holidays Cotswolds location in Bourton-on-the-Water in May 2023. We chose the self-guided option but I can enlighten a bit about the program.

All meals are included. Breakfast and Dinner are as a group with dinner at a specified time and breakfast based on your own day plans over the course of an hour or two. Lunches are packed. You pre-order what you want in your lunch and also specified your dinner entree choice each night. The food is good and varied with something for everyone. There is a cash bar as well, socializing before and after dinner as you prefer.

For the guided walk program, there are 3 walks every day: short, medium, and long. There are 3 guides and each takes one level. There is also a reference area where you can choose your own walk if you want to be self-guided. The self-guided option is challenging without a car, just FYI, but we had a good experience. We did find protracted group dinners (90 minutes or so) got weary after a bit but we could have chosen to skip a night or two and go out on our own. Might do in future. The lodging was comfortable although we upgraded our digs as we stayed a full week.

Hope this helps!

Thank you for sharing your time and this helpful information. Lexma, the idea of traveling to Oxford right after arriving at LHR is very interesting. I haven’t been there, nor has my son, so that might be a great thing to do.
However, he is a big Lord of the Rings fan, so when he finds out about the Bell Inn option, that might seal the deal! Laurel, the breakdown of how the company coordinates the walking routes is very helpful, thank you! This looks like a really promising idea. I’m looking at the availability for August, September or even October. From what I’ve read, the area is getting very busy. I’m assuming September or October are better for lesser crowds. September temperatures are appealing. Any preferences regarding when to go?

Mustlovedogs -

JRR Tolkien, as your son probably knows, was a professor at Oxford. So there's information about him there. In addition, sites around the area are identified with places in the books. The Bell Inn is thought to have been the inspiration for the Prancing Pony, but there are others, as well.

I can't help on the Fall timing. I went in the third week of May, and while there were hikers, I was surprised that I didn't see more of them on the trails. Though probably different when you're hiking with a group. The towns I walked through were busy but not crazy-busy with tourists.

I have been looking more closely at the walk options and dates offered. There is more flexibility for us in terms of the week availability and a single room option if we were to go with the self guided plan. I am wondering if that might be a possibility, even if we are dependent on public transportation. Laurel, did you use the buses to help you out? My daughter is very good at following trails and directions through apps (much better than me!) so maybe we don’t need the guide.

I am also looking at Cotswolds Walks, but the one I saw that is 4 nights starts in Cheltenham Spa, which I think would be harder to get to than Oxford or Moreton in Marsh from LHR?

Cheltenham Spa is easy to reach from Heathrow- direct National Express bus, more frequent than the one to Bath.

Or rail/air bus (or the normal choice of train routes) to Reading, then direct hourly train (ex Paddington)

From Cheltenham Spa to Moreton in Marsh there is a direct Pulham's bus, #801, every hour journey time 90 minutes. The same bus calls at Bourton on the Water on the way.

Hi Stuart! That’s good to know. So I won’t cross this one off. This is the walk they offer that looks interesting:

https://www.cotswoldwalks.com/the-cotswold-line

As compared to this HF Holiday option:
https://www.hfholidays.co.uk/holidays-and-tours/4-night-cotswolds-self-guided-walking-holiday. For this option, the starting in Oxford (from the Airline bus from LHR) has been met with a big thumbs up. Even spending an overnight and part of the next day would be fun I think. We wouldn’t check into their house until 4.

We did a HF Holidays self-guided trip in the Highlands, staying a their house in North Ballachulish (Glencoe). We were very pleased with the accommodations, food, and planning assistance with route information and maps that you could borrow and return. The information also included how to get to trail heads via public transit. Although we did have a car. Even though we were self-guided the guides were extremely gracious with their time and had helpful ideas and suggestions. What I most appreciated was the daily "registry" where you recorded your intended walk and timeframe. Presumably they sent our flares if you did not return in a timely fashion. Rather reassuring in the Highlands with its variable weather.

As a self-guided member you could attend the evening presentations on the next day's hikes - which also gave you an idea of what you might want to do. If you wanted to join one of the guided trips you could for an additional fee.

Hi, I've been on two HF guided walking holidays. To Church Stretton last year and to Malham in Yorkshire earlier this year.

If you go onto the HF site on your possible date you can download a schedule that describes the walks for that week, or 3/4 day holidays if that's your choice. But I would try to go for a week if you can.

They grade their walks 1 to 9 ( 9 is the toughest), and its based on length, terrain, elevation etc.

I think the first week I went, all the walks were graded 3, 4 and 5/maybe6. I always did the grade 3. Every evening, before the evening meal, there's a half hour talk about the options available the following day. Where to, points of interest, length, elevation etc. There are always 3 options. Meeting time in the morning. Are you going by coach to the starting point, or direct from the House etc. I think the Malham walks were grades 2-4 (can't remember exactly now).

I have looked at the Cotswolds house, as its near London, but I don't have the pull to the Cotswolds that so many on this site have. I believe the walks in the Cotswolds are pretty flatish.

I really liked Church Stretton. It has a railway station, and its a very small Shropshire town. And I thought all the walks we did were great.

I am currently looking at the Whitby location for early next year, as I've never been there and I think they are running some offers for booking next year at the moment.

I've never been interested in self guided, I've no sense of direction, and prefer the security of an experienced guide with me. They do have plenty of information available of the many walks you can do it you do it yourself though.

There is also an option of the Walking with Sightseeing holidays. Which are a daily programme taking you round by coach to local places of interest, where some walking would be involved - but not a "walk" as such. I think these look pretty good if you just want to visit an unfamiliar area.

Presumably they sent our flares if you did not return in a timely fashion.

Not quite. But they will try to telephone you if you are not back, and have not phoned them. If unable to make contact then the local volunteer Mountain Rescue Team will be contacted and a search party deployed to your planned route.

There are 47 MRT's in England, and more in Scotland (including a Glencoe MRT).

Mountain Rescue doesn't exist in the Cotswolds- in that case police resources will be deployed.

I live very close to one of the receiving hospitals for Lake District rescues, when people are airlifted out (again free). Even after over 50 years I still get a cold chill in my bones whenever a helicopter arrives. At least if it's a helicopter generally (but not always) we have a survivor.

I'm afraid I used a figure of speech when I mentioned "sending out flares" if you failed to return in a timely fashion. I meant that efforts would be made to contact you and if no contact is made, some form of search and rescue would be dispatched. Apologies for the local jargon.