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"Hub and Spoke" Structured Solo Garden Tour

Hello everyone!
Back again after having to postpone my previously planned garden tour to the UK. Now, I am looking at 2021, May into June. I have had serious difficulty establishing transportation to many of the gardens I want to visit in the UK, National Trust or not, as many are located in rural areas where public transportation is not readily available. I am considering a "hub and spoke" scheme that I hope will provide more options for transportation. This scheme would place me in larger towns in the general area of the gardens I wish to visit and then allow me to locate and plan transportation from that town to the gardens and back to my resident town. I can use established trains and/or bus service to go from hub to hub (larger town to larger town).

I need to know of transportation options, generally available in smaller towns in the UK, that I might investigate for travel to and from gardens near hub towns. I am over 70, will be travelling solo. Rental cars may be difficult for me to acquire and operate. Short term leases would require I drive from hub to hub, which I would rather not do. So, I am looking for options such as Uber, Lift, local bus routes, local taxi services, Vespa (scooter) rentals, even bikes (if the terrain allows). Reviews of general availability of these transport options would be most appreciated and specific mention of some that are widely available would be very helpful.

If you have had experience with travel without an automobile into the more rural areas of the UK, please share your knowledge and experiences. Thank you all!
Chauncy

Posted by
7943 posts

See the recent thread about Sissinghurst. Taxis add up cost fast, and require reservations rurally. Trains are already hub and spoke so you may have to go back to London and change stations to visit another area. I'm not confident your idea is practical.

Posted by
11 posts

Tim: Thank you! This is the kind of information that I am trying to discover.............
Wasleys: Thank you! I will go to the National Trust site and see what is available. I belong to the Royal Oak Foundation here in the US, an organization comprised of Americans supporting the National Trust in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. I am very appreciative of how the UK protects and manages its garden heritage.

Posted by
2324 posts

I know Just Go offer a discount to National Trust members on their tours. It would be worthwhile checking if this also applies to Royal Oak members too!