Itinerary advice for Lake District, Cottswald, Glastonbury and London

Hi from Wisconsin,
I have no idea if this possible. This is just a thought. Rent twice. Once for the Lake District and for the days you need the car. Then train or bus to Bristol. Rent a car there. Do Glastonbury and Cottswolds. Return car to Bristol, take train to London.

Remember, it is not only rental cost but driving stress and gasoline. But there is the added stress of arranging transfer from car to train to car...

Just a thought.

wayne iNWI

Re- Keswick-
This is the Visit Keswick website- I have just done a search for 3 adults for 3 nights starting 2 July, and get lots of results.

It is The Cotswolds (with the possessive 'The') you are going to visit next, versus Cottswald.

The Theatre by the Lake, sadly, is just switching to it's High Summer schedule and has no main house performances on your dates, opening it's summer play (which promises to be a stunner) on 5 July.
May I suggest either going to a movie at Keswick's beautiful Alhambra movie theatre, or going to The Old Laundry Theatre at Bowness on Windermere for their summer play 'Happy Birthday Peter Rabbit'
It's also worth checking out the Brewery Arts Centre at Kendal, for what they have on.
But if TbtL is important to you, maybe delay a week or two. However you are then getting into summer school holiday period. Also be sure to book somewhere in Keswick with parking. Summer time parking in Keswick is tight and expensive.
You would be as well off coming up by train to Windermere or Penrith (both on direct trains), and using our good bus system.
Also many people will express concern at your planning to drive on a freeway straight off a TA flight.

If you wanted to take the train from Penrith to Bristol, that is one change at Birmingham New Street.

Book that train as separate tickets- Penrith to Birmingham, Birmingham to Bristol Temple Meads- around £100 less than through tickets for 3 people.

Glastonbury is not worth travelling to in my opinion - and the roads are poor in that area v volume of traffic.

Have you considered a day trip by train from Penrith to Edinburgh?

If you are coming down by train from The Lake District to the Cotswolds, I would suggest that Cheltenham might be a good place to leave the train and hire a car. Note that The Cotswolds cover a fairly big area.

Trains >https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

Early July will be a better time to visit than later in the month or August because you will avoid the school holidays.

I think the idea of 2 separate car rentals makes sense. Also have a look at Gloucester and Cheltenham for the Cotswolds rental. The road network in Bristol is a challenging quite frankly (there’s a lot of water here and therefore a lot of old and inadequate bridges) and I wouldn’t advise renting a car anywhere central. Glastonbury is only worth going to if you have a particular desire to see it. There is plenty to keep you busy in the Cotswolds for the few days you have there so no real need to do this longer drive.

By the way the connecting train at Birmingham for Bristol calls at Cheltenham Spa on route to Bristol.
For Gloucester you would need to connect into a train bound for Cardiff.
You really don't need a car for the Lake District, it will overall be more of a burden than a help to you- not only in Keswick, but everywhere that you go to you are just looking for parking spaces and paying through the nose when you find them.
And of course then having to do a circular walk to return to the car rather than being able to do a linear walk, and using transit/a lake launch to return.

are you considering a visit to Glastonbury for the standing stones, or for the association with the Festival, or for the crystal healing, tarot reading counter culture vibe?

If it is for the standing stones, the Rollrights are right in the middle of The Cotswolds, with free admission (£1 suggested donation). If you want to see standing stones there are three different things to see there. And it would save a journey out of the way. https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/rollright-stones/

In Keswick, check Brookfield B&B Guest House. Not an Airbnb, but we stayed at and enjoyed it. Parking was on the street across the street from the B&B. The hosts were very nice. On a previous trip we stayed at a B&B on The Heads that is no longer in business, but others are. From it we were able to walk to the Theatre by the Lake. On our recent trip we went to a play at the theatre and there is parking at it.

Car rentals anyplace are much more costly than before Covid. If you are a Costco member, check its prices. When we went to Scotland last autumn an automatic was only $30 more than a manual, but we reserved about 6 months before the trip.

Big thank you all for your helpful advice and recommendations. Due to your advice I’ve decided to not rent a car—especially after coming off a TI flight. I’ll use the trains and buses. And I’ll keep my earlyJuly time frame simplifying my schedule by dropping Cottswald and Glastonbury which will give us time to relax and enjoy Keswick and London. God bless ya’ll. (Given with GA accent) ;-)

I think you made the right choice, less stress and save money from the gas and rental to use on possible tours and lodging/eating.