How to get from London to Highclere Castle during December 7th train strike?

Others may have more specific suggestions but you might phone and/or email the office and see if they have any suggestions. You can't be the only one in the same boat on a strike day. Here is info from their website. Maybe offer that if anyone else wants to be connected to share a private car transfer like uber or mydaytrip.com and split the cost. Or ask if HC will let you change to another day if that would for you.

"Contact Us
Highclere Castle
Highclere Park, Newbury RG20 9RN
Tel: 01635 253210
Email: [email protected]"

Have you considered signing up for a day tour that provides transportation?

Hiya!
Try looking at National Express Coach Service. They do a direct coach from London Victoria to Reading, then Highclere is about 26 miles from there. There isn't a direct link to Newbury, Just Reading and Swindon from what I can see.

I grew up in Reading and now live in California and have never been able to get tickets for Highclere whenever I've been there visiting family so I understand you really wanting to be able to get there. I've used National Express a lot though.

I'm not sure about Uber there, it's not very popular but you should be able to get a taxi or maybe a bus....good luck, fingers crossed for you!

https://www.nationalexpress.com/en

First off, keep checking on www.nationalrail.co.uk because there may be some trains running.

Along the same lines as above, i.e getting yourself to Reading, you could also take the Elizabeth Line (not impacted by Aslef strikes, I think) from central London all the way west to the end of the line at Reading and then pick up a cab or car service. Reading is a very large town and transport hub 25 or 30 miles from Highclere Castle, so that wouldn’t be as expensive as a car service from London.

There are other British responders on this forum who are probably sensibly in bed at the moment but may have better ideas tomorrow.

Incidentally I believe that you will be able to get a refund on your non-refundable train ticket if the train doesn’t run - you get 100% delay repay refund in normal circumstances if a train is more than an hour late, so the same should be true if no trains run at all. And if the train your ticket is for doesn’t actually run, but there are some trains, you can also use it on the next available service.

Well, I hate renting cars. However, in this case, renting a car might be the way to go. Do you know anyone else who is in the same situation? Perhaps you can get several persons together to split the costs. I've driven in the UK, and if you keep your wits about you, it's not that difficult.

We went to Highclere Castle in the summer of 2022. We rented a car. I know you may not want to hear this but it may be the easiest way to do this with the train strike projected. The other alternative would be to check bus schedules. Newbury is not very big. Oxford is also nearish to Newbury. I am not sure what a taxi would cost from Oxford to Highclere would be. Wishing you the best. Highclere Castle was fun to see.

National Express to Reading is little use, as they stop at Mereoak Park and Ride, which is out at one of the M4 junctions- so park and ride bus into town, then back out again. And only 3 or 4 buses a day.
Megabus run to Reading Rail station, but infrequent.

So take either the Elizabeth Line or one of the quite frequent Great Western trains to Reading which are running that day then Jet Blue #1 local citybus from Blagrave Street (close to the station) to Newbury Wharf.
In any event you would have had to take a taxi from Newbury to the Castle.

But that is your alternate plan B to get as far as Newbury on transit- https://passenger-line-assets.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/readingbuses/RBUS/1-timetable-20230904-44790266.pdf

A second 'obvious' route is South West Trains to Basingstoke then Stagecoach bus # Link at xx44 to Newbury (journey time 45 minutes) - last bus back from Newbury at 1840. SWT are running a normal service that day.

The third is GWR to Didcot Parkway (good service running) then Thames Travel/Oxford Bus #X34 to Newbury- https://passenger-line-assets.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/oxfordbus/THTR/X34-timetable-20231029-07660a7c.pdf

PS- Don't apply for delay repay on your train- that will be rejected as it applies to delayed trains. Apply for a refund to wherever you bought your train ticket from.

So lots of options, apart from driving.

Thank you all for the great advice! So glad to now know I have some decent options.

Need to send a shoutout to isn31c for making my travel from London to Highclere Castle so pain free despite the Great Western Railway strike. It was so incredibly easy to take the Elizabeth Line to Reading, then take the local JetBlack #1 bus from Blagrave Street to Newbury Wharf. A short taxi ride from there to Highclere’s parking lot & my dream visit came true! Another bucket list item checked off my list😊 Thank you, isn31c, for taking the time to ease my mind & offering your helpful public transit tips!

I'm just pleased to hear back that all went well with your trip. Thanks for your thanks, it is always nice to have a postcript like this.