Looking for feedback on planned UK tour

I’ll start with a couple of points.
You really don’t want to start your trip with a car drive in a country you have never been to who drive on what for you is the “wrong” side of the road after a long overnight red eye flight. It’s very straightforward to take a coach or train to Bath. In any event having a hire car in Bath is just an expensive encumbrance, as you have recognised in Edinburgh, York and London.
You have managed to provide what is your only down time to a couple of hours on two days in the dullest place of your trip. Inverness can be a useful place for services and to access places locally but has little touristic appeal.
I would also not recommend a bus tour of London. The central London traffic means it can be a very slow procedure.

Thanks. I think I'll be okay with the driving, though I take your point. Getting the car IN Bath to go on to the Stonehenge, Cotswolds, etc. clocked in at something like twice the price, so the cost is actually in favor of getting it at LHR.

The downtime IS a problem, so we may end up just dropping some things. What to drop, however? We don't get back to Inverness either day until about 15:00/15:30, so it's not a lot of time. I looked into doing a whisky tasting someplace, but our main day being a Sunday, most distilleries are closed (also, I don't want to drive after that). I thought I might just seek out a good shop in Inverness that does tastings (not sure if it exists) or, failing that, maybe hit Whiski Rooms in Edinburgh on our "Royal Mile" day.

We probably would have skipped Inverness entirely, but my wife really wants to see Culloden and Fort George.

Again - thanks for your feedback!

Most people on this forum will advise against driving straight off a TA flight, and would suggest that you take transit (coach or train) to Bath. You don't need the car until the morning of 5/18.
There are several spelling errors above, but we all know what you mean!
Don't stress about missing museums, do what you want to do and what interest you.
You're right about packing the 25th- whether that all works I can speculate. I would be inclined to move Evensong to next day, it'll be light till around 9pm, so time in the evening for the walls. Maybe Museum in the morning, Minster pm ending with Evensong.
You need to check, closer to the time, on the Changing of the Guard- as I don't think that you have full ceremony or any music on a Sunday. You may want to retime that for 5/31, on your way to the airport.

You've got the Holyrood Distillery on the Royal Mile day in Edinburgh.- https://holyrooddistillery.co.uk/book-a-tour/

Great observations - thank you. Is Holyrood Distillery good? Missing Palace of Holyrood House (though I don't note it above) is unfortunate for us, but it is not open to the public when we are there.

It's true, as both you and other responders have mentioned, that you aren't allowing much down time.

But you're also not allowing much (or any) time for spontaneous explorations. You have scheduled virtually everything. So what happens if you find a little wayside village along your drive that is too charming to pass by without stopping? Or if a cute shop beckons?

Plus, it may not be enough to schedule down-time; you may need it when your body needs it, and that's really hard to predict ahead of time.

I think it's wiser to allow yourself free time every day, which you can fill (or not fill) as you wish. For one thing, it will take off a lot of the pressure to get from one venue to the next. You can always add stuff on the spur of the moment.

You've clearly done a lot of research and planning, and I think this plan works if you can keep up the energy for it. I hope you're younger and more vigorous than me! This would be a breakneck pace on a guided tour where everything had been prearranged and the two of you had Jeeves for an escort. ;-)

I'll join in the advice not to drive on arrival day. Bath is easy to reach from LHR without a car. I don't know how much more a car costs from Bath, but you could save a couple of days on the rental and eliminate the risk of injury to yourselves or others on day 1.

Holyrood Distillery- I've not been but have heard only good feedback from others and it gets 5* on Trip Advisor with barely a dissenting voice, which must mean something,

so the cost is actually in favor of getting it at LHR.

A collision on the M4 will cost a lot more. Ann Sacoolas had had several days to acclimatise.

I would definitely suggest dropping Inverness. It's not particularly interesting, and there are better places to be based. You might want to consider somewhere like Aviemore or Grantown-on-Spey as a nice alternative, and still easily driveable to all the places you want to visit in the Highlands. Alternatively perhaps spend an extra night in Edinburgh and an extra night in York.

Unlike Simon, I would agree with your decision of Inverness. Many people really do seem to have a downer on the town.

Aviemore and Grantown on Spey are noit as convenient for the places you want to visit from Inverness. Fort George is an amazing site and I love Clava cairns too. These are best visited late afternoon once all the visitors have left. The light is lower and they are a lot more atmospheric. If you wanted to sat somewhere outside Inverness, I would suggest Nairn .

I would far rather stay in Inverness than in Aviemore- I think the latter is a pretty soulless place. Also going down to Aviemore adds another 20 miles or so to each day's journey each way, as does Grantown.
There is nothing wrong with Inverness at all.
On the way you have passed the village of Carrbridge (about 8 miles north of Aviemore) which is a far nicer place than Aviemore.
Even closer than Nairn to the airport, Culloden/Clava and Fort George/Cawdor to stay for the 2 nights is the village of Ardersier- just down the road from Fort George. There are at least 3 places to stay there. Although expensive there is also a Marriott at the Airport.
From Ardersier you can cut through past Culloden and Clava to join the A9 at Daviot on your way to Edinburgh.
If you have a car you can easily get to these less well known places.

I would also ask you to reconsider picking up the car on arrival. My other half grew up driving on the left, we make it over multiple times a year, fly in an upgraded cabin so we arrive more rested, and his parents are only a bit over two hours from LHR. And still, we don't drive on day one. We take HEX to Paddington, check into the Hilton or Hotel Indigo, spend the afternoon shopping, meet friends for dinner, and go back to the hotel for a good night of sleep. In the morning, nice breakfast, HEX, pick up the rental car and then head for the West Midlands. That formula wouldn't work for others, but is there a way to reformulate your itinerary to avoid picking up a car on arrival?

I'm sorry, I may have missed some detail as the denseness of travel was too much for me to concentrate on.

A couple of thoughts - negatives, I'm afraid.

First time to the UK, long transatlantic flight, London area motorways, an attitude of I think I can do it is a recipe for trouble. I'm a lot more selfish than some here and while I have some concern for your wellbeing I have a lot more for the other poor buggers stuck for hours on the M25 or M4 after some person has screwed up. Thousands of us for often several hours because of an "earlier incident". If money is more important than safety then there are other alternatives. Trust me - English and especially around London roads and highways are way different than around Portland.

May 20: Drive to Birmingham for early flight to Inverness, arriving before noon.

How early is the flight? Before the flight is a Saturday drive from Chipping Campden to Birmingham airport which will take a minimum of an hour, more likely closer to 90 minutes. The M42 has variable speed limits (radar photo controlled) and is busy on a Saturday (it seems that the M42 is busier every time I use it).

Then find check in and check in the car then get to the terminal and check in there. If you expect to be in Inverness before noon you must be starting pretty early.

May 27: Train to London, arriving noon, bus tour of London

Another vote against the bus tour which can be a lot more trouble than it is worth, Bank Holiday Saturday will be very busy in London. The open top buses will just creep around. They cannot use the bus lanes.

May 28: (Sunday) Watch changing of the guard in the am and British Museum in the pm

Have you checked that Changing of the Guard will be happening on the Bank Holiday Sunday? British Museum on a Bank Holiday weekend will be a genuine basket case. I know you won't be doing a lot of museums - that's fine - but I'd hate for you to pick one of the world's best and have a bad experience.

It takes a lot longer to get from one place to another than you might think.

First time to UK and I'm probably trying to squeeze in too much - and yet I'm leaving so much out! Certainly I'm leaving out time to relax. I hope to return to see some of what we (my wife and I) will miss and also just to enjoy a more relaxed time in places like the Cotswolds and the Scottish Highlands.

Yes, you are trying to squeeze in too much. Yes, you are leaving no wiggle room or time to relax. Realize that if there is traffic, an accident, work on the rail lines, your schedule will be all out of whack. And let's not even start talking about exhaustion.

When I was younger, I led sightseeing tours. We packed in a lot. But we would never consider trying to do a schedule like you are planning. It is exhausting.

I understand your desire to see everything. But even you say you hope to return someday. Plan to do just that.

Everything else I was going to say was said by Nigel so I'll just refer you back to his response.

I note the Loganair flight from Birmingham to Inverness is at 0935, arriving at 1055 so that is a very early start from Chipping Campden.
Trains to Bath taking 2 hours from Heathrow cost between £27.60 and £36.60 (advance fares) on your arrival- changing at Hayes and Harlington, then Reading,
National Express Coaches direct to Bath leave at 1425 and 1655 costing £1 (yes £1) and £13 respectively. The 1425 is tight (although that flight today landed at 1159).
A small price to pay for road safety.
The 1200 arrival at Heathrow suggests you have connected via Seatac on AA.
If you are on the counterpart of that flight back at 1410 you need to be at Heathrow by 1100, which is no later than 1000 from London. If you are on the 1610 BA that is 1200 from central London.

“I think I’ll be OK with the driving.”

“Thinking” you will be OK isn’t good enough. If your plane lands at noon, even if it is on time (which it rarely is, in our experience), it will be 2 pm or later by the time you get through immigration and collect the car. That will be 6 am on your body clock, and you will likely have had little sleep on the plane, and probably little in the way of nourishment. It is a really bad plan to head out on a long drive in that state.

You will only have that first car for 4 days, so it can’t be that much more expensive to pick it up in Bath. But if you are determined to pick it up at Heathrow, why not just drive as far as Windsor, 15-20 minutes away, for your first night? With your focus on history, there should be something of interest for you there. Check in to your hotel, then take a walk along the Thames or through the Windsor Great Park. Or visit the castle.

https://www.rct.uk/visit/windsor-castle

https://www.windsorgreatpark.co.uk/

And find a nice spot for dinner, maybe outside overlooking the river, before heading to bed for some much-needed sleep.

The next morning, drive to Stonehenge and Salisbury on your way to Bath. This route makes more sense than backtracking to Salisbury on your way between Bath and the Cotswolds.

On my dozen London trips to date I usually have ambitious itineraries but it seems to me that you’re unnecessarily crisscrossing the city on May 29, eating up valuable time in an already packed itinerary. In the morning you’re at Westminster Abbey, which is a stone’s throw from Churchill war rooms but you go all the way down to Saint Katherine’s dock for lunch only to have to come back to Westminster for the War Rooms in the afternoon. Wouldn’t it be more efficient to stay in Westminster for lunch that day? Given the advice against a bus tour (I agree) maybe do the Thames tour on your arrival day May 27 in lieu of a bus tour. Seeing London from the river is a great introduction to the city.

Thanks all for the commentary. We may well reconfigure this a bit. I appreciate the advice.

Why fly into London then go up north, you will be back tracking. I would suggest flying into Glosgow, working your way down south.

I think Robin Z has the best idea, although I know you may have to change some reservations for accommodations.