Month long stay in the Cotswolds

Check the National Trust UK web site under Holidays. I found rentals in the Cotswolds region that were in historic properties that could be let for 28 days at from 1800-3000 pounds. There are other rentals available I am sure, but these looked really fabulous; especially the one in Broadway.

While I love the cotswolds it can be rainy in October. That aside , there is alot to do there and adjacent areas . Bath, Avebury stone circles etc. a car is preferable for the area and if your guests arrive at diff times u prob will feel like a tour guide on demand. Cotswolds is famous for walking paths again tho if raining u prob would not wish to walk from village to village.
I have always stayed at B& Bs so i have no sugg on housess for rent.

To answer your questions in order:

1. If you want more variety than the "central Cotswolds" can offer, it will be easy to expand your territory in all directions. To the north, for example, you have Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick Castle. To the east, Oxford, etc.

2. Public transportation is not great. If you don't want to be driving one group of friends around after another, you'll have to be firm with them when plans are made. For example, tell them they need to rent their own car if they don't want to be tied to the trains & buses.

3. What qualifies as a good home base depends on your tastes and budget, as well as whether you want to be right near a train or bus connection or not (see #2).

4. This TripAdvisor site might give you some ideas of what's available and the prices. https://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentals-g186281-Reviews-Cotswolds_England-Vacation_Rentals.html

I would suggest either Bourton-on-the Water, Chipping Campden or Moreton-in-Marsh for a base.
Moreton-in-Marsh is where you would change buses for some destination. Buses goes to Broadway, Bourton-on-the-Water, Stow-on-the-Wold, Painswick, Stanton, Winchcombe and Cirencester to name a few. You would have to check the bus schedules to check the times and days. Of course the bus would take longer then you were driving which would be better. You could take the train to Bath, would change trains in Reading

Two towns in the Cotswolds that do have good train connections are Moreton-In-Marsh and Stratford-Upon-Avon.
There is an excellent tour company that picks up passengers from both of these places.
Go Cotswolds tours is in a small Mercedes mini van, and goes to many of the scenic Cotswold villages.
https://www.gocotswolds.co.uk/tour-details/

Two years ago, we stayed in Stratford-Upon-Avon, and took this tour. Tom (the tour company owner) picked us up at our hotel.
We went to Chipping Campden, Broadway Tower, Stow-On-The-Wold, Bourton-On-The-Water, and the Rollright Stones, to name a few of the stops. Tom gave out walking maps in some of the towns, and made recommendations for shops selling coffee and cakes, or lunch. Plenty of time was given for us to walk around and take photos at each stop.

Tom was born and raised in Stratford-Upon-Avon, so he knows the Cotswolds quite well. We enjoyed his stories and explanations of local landmarks. Being a local, Tom can also suggest some great restaurants around Stratford-Upon-Avon.
http://www.gocotswolds.co.uk/
It is a great tour, with an excellent tour operator who reminds me of a very young Rick Steves.

You may want to rent a house in Moreton-In-Marsh or Stratford-Upon-Avon.
When guests come to stay, you could take them on the Go Cotswolds tour instead of driving all around in a car.
You might also stay in one of the Cotswold towns that begin the tour, say Chipping Campden.

Bus service does exist in the Cotswolds between towns. Not many per day. Some days no service. But if you have settled into a cottage, and are doing hikes during the day, you may not want to travel every day.

There are taxis in the Cotswolds. You could use bus plus short taxi ride to get you to castles, etc.

You can take the train from Moreton-In-Marsh to Oxford, Warwick (Castle), and Stratford-Upon-Avon.
You can take the train from London to Moreton-In-Marsh, Oxford, Warwick, and Stratford-Upon-Avon.

Our first retirement vacation to Europe was a month in the Cotswolds. We rented a house a few miles north of Burford basically out in the countryside. We loved it and found plenty to do. We would take day trips ranging from Oxford to the east to Glouchester on the west. We would look for fairs and other events. Several times we would take the train into London on Saturday or Sunday. We liked to attend the antique etc markets in Camden Lock and Portobello Road. Also, we wanted to see the Lake District so we took a road trip and spent two nights there.

A second trip we spent two weeks in Upper Rissington just east of Burton on the Water, again we were out in the country. We liked both locations and if we went back would want to be in this area, probably no further north than Burton and no further south than Burford.

We were there from mid May to mid June on both trips so I can't say what the weather would be like in October.

Our first trip we found the house through a friend. The second through a rental agency.

We loved the Cotswolds.

The Cotswolds covers nearly 800 sq miles, but most on this forum just visit the Oxfordshire part, between Chipping Campden and Stow-on-the-Wold. What has drawn you to this area?

I, along with most of the Brits on this forum can’t understand the obsession with this area. Yes, it’s pleasant, but so are many parts of the UK that rarely get a mention!

Personally, if it had to be the Cotswolds, I would base myself in Cirencester, which has more going on, as it’s larger than say Burford and it’s within easy reach of Bath, Tetbury, Marlborough and the Downs and Cheltenham.

Public transport isn’t great in rural areas - you could suggest to your friends that they hired a car!

I'm with Emma. As much as I love England, a month in the Cotswolds is my idea of boredom due to the difficulty of doing day trips elsewhere without a car. I haven't been to the Lake District(yet) but it sounds more interesting to me. I love Durham and there are good day trips from there.

A month is a long time to stay in the Cotswolds.

We stayed in Chipping Campden for six nights and visited nearly all the Cotswold towns, cities and villages as well as Oxford, Blenheim Palace and Stratford Upon Avon.

You could venture out more and add Bath to the south. Warwick is a bit farther north. There are other places to see but I would not plan on driving more than two hours from your home base.

Consider splitting your stay with two weeks in the Cotswolds and two weeks in York. From York you can visit Hadrian's Wall, Whitby, the Yorkshire Moors, Pickering, Durham, Newcastle and more.

Public transport is not that great and if you try using it, you will waste a lot of time. Suggest renting a car. If you stay in Chipping Campden (we stayed at the Volunteer Inn) parking at no cost is available.

You won't need a tour guide if you have a good guide book.

We did four weeks in Wales and England, here is my review of that trip. https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=599139

A very different view: we visited first Paris 2012, then Rome 2013, now London 2018 for a month each. Yes, we are retired. These have been the best experiences of our lives. I am not able to anticipate your interests, but for 99% of people that is way too long in the Cotswolds. What will you do on a rainy day in the Cotswolds? A major city has so many and varied things to do: that is what you should be considering in my humble opinion. No need to drive. Each day select from many interesting options or take a day off. Enjoy.

Thank you all so much for all of these wonderful thoughts; I really appreciate your efforts and will study them further. As I just in the beginning of this plan, I am open to other suggestions. I have been fortunate to enjoy brief stays in several other destinations - London, Paris, Provence, Nice, Rome and Florence - but am torn regarding a ‘repeat’ vs exploring something else on my bucket list. Also torn over ‘city’ vs ‘pastoral’ setting. Yikes; this sounds so trite! ANY ideas/suggestions are greatly helpful. Again, THANK YOU!

Somehow, I got the impression from your first post, that you do not want to drive in the Cotswolds.
( "I will have several groups of American friends joining me and I have concerns about constantly driving plus having to be a non-stop "tour guide".)

Perhaps I was wrong to assume that. A great many of our forum members who visit the Cotswolds for a long period of time do rent a car. They find it to be an ideal way to get around.

Many people who rent a cottage in the Cotswolds for several weeks are into hiking. The Cotswold Way, a long distance path, is great for walking. You can set out from your chosen village, walk to the next several villages, have a pub lunch, then turn around and walk back to your village. See the details here, with a map to enlarge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotswold_Way

I just did all the driving on our month long trip to Europe. I drove in Norway, Scotland and Ireland. Not a problem at all. Not sure why some Americans are nervous about it. Get an automatic if you are not used to manual and make sure car has Sat Nav and your good to go. Trust me, if I can do it, anyone can.

The freedom, time saving flexibility is great!
Oh, I would use public transport if I was in the city!

First of all, I am very jealous that you will be spending a month in England for your big birthday!

We recently went to the Cotswolds without a car. We got around using trains, buses, and taxis. Yes, it took some planning, but it can be done. Your friends will just have to spend some time figuring out where they want to go and then do a lot of research on-line. This forum was extremely valuable in giving us links to check out and in understanding how buses and trains work and how to buy tickets and passes.

I'm with geovagriffith, if you are set on staying in the Cotswolds then splitting your time between there and somewhere near York is a good suggestion.