Oxford and the Cotswolds

I love the Deutsche Bahn website but would not use it for planning a trip to Great Britain. I'd use nationalrail.co.uk instead.

It's far easier to see the Cotswolds by car than via public transportation, so I'd certainly keep the car until you have finished seeing the villages. I don't know what your drop-off options will be, other than Oxford--perhaps Moreton-in-Marsh?

You can certainly get to Oxford easily by train from Moreton-in-Marsh.

At a very quick glance, it doesn't look as if it's faster to get to Conwy from Moreton-in-Marsh than from Oxford, but it may well be less expensive and take not much longer.

From Oxford to Conwy you can take the train to Birmingham International and from there a direct train to Conwy
It appears to be cheaper to buy two tickets for about £50 for Advance Single tickets where you have to travel on booked trains
Suggest you consult www.seat61.com for information on rail travel in UK including how to book tickets from abroad

I'm afraid you would have a fruitless search looking for a place to turn in your car in Moreton-in-Marsh. The only place I ever knew about there closed many years ago.

If I had a car in the Cotswolds, I'd keep it for the extension to North Wales.

Why not travel by car all the way? A lot less complicated and probably saving a lot of time and money.

Original post had you not going to Bath. What is you current plan? What are the priority places you wish to visit?
You originally seemed intent on visiting beautiful little Lacock is that still on?

You need a car for the Cotswolds. It’s under a 2 hour drive from Bath to Stow on the Wold, so I would head there via Hidcote (my favourite National Trust garden). Two nights somewhere is only a one full day and you want to see Oxford, so that is where you should spend your day. Don’t try to drive in Oxford itself - use the park & ride service.

A car is also very beneficial in the Conwy area, so I would drive there rather than take the train.

There is no point using a German website for British trains when we have our own excellent nationalrail.co.uk website which will be more accurate. Don’t book trains through Trainline, as you pay more.

Are you committed to travelling between the Cotswolds and Conwy by train? Have you thought about driving. Take the day to do the journey and plan on a scenic route across to Worcester, Ludlow, Shrewsbury, Chirk, Llangollen , Betws y coed to Conwy. Its about 170 m iles and takes you through somne of the best scenery. Allow 5hours plus plenty of time for stops.

I would keep the car, and take time to explore the countryside. The Cotswolds is such a beautiful area, no matter where you go! Chipping Campden is beautiful and worth the detour.

Thank you all.
I got the Deutsche Bahn link from another post here on the forum. Thank you for pointing me to the UK Rail site.
Regarding the Bath question, we aren't oppposed to Bath, it just isn't a chosen destination for us. The reason we are thinking of staying there is to rest after the flight, have access to renting a car, and being near Wells/Glastonbury.
I know I'll get grief for this, but we have pretty much decided to rent the car and do Wells, Glastonbury and Stonehenge in a loop, staying that night in Salisbury. I know, I know...everyone advised against one night stays and long driving days. But we are from Seattle where it is perfectly normal to have to drive many miles in a day. We have mapped it out, adding a lot of cushion to the approximate drive times, and we feel we are okay with it. We aren't really big on visitor center/tours, we prefer to see the location for ourselves, for as long or short as we choose, then move on. So we won't be spending 2 hours at Stonehenge, we will park, take the shuttle, and gaze in wonder. Then we'll head to Salisbury.
In the morning, after we visit Salisbury Cathedral, we will drive to Lacock (yes, it is still a destination we are quite interested in) then on to Stow-in-the-Wold for 2 nights.

It seems there is a big difference of opinions on the forum regarding driving vs trains. Our original thought was driving on to Conwy, and on to the Lake District before going to Edinburgh. But RS has a suggested itinerary for those not wanting to drive, and it seems it is quite doable to take the train to Wales, then take the train/bus to the Lake District, followed by train to Edinburgh. I don't want my poor husband to spend his entire vacation driving in an unfamiliar area, so unless there really are great reasons to keep the car (which I am open to hearing and considering) I believe the trains will work for us.
I hope this is coming across as complaining, I'm not! I truly appreciate your comments and suggestions, but it is rather head spinning when half the room says drive, don't take the train, and the other half says don't spend all your time driving, take a train.

You will want the car for the Cotswolds. I really enjoyed the quick and easy access to Bleinheim Palace from the Cotswolds with a car. If you don't want the car in Wales, I would consider to drop the car off at Birmingham airport on your way north after leaving your Cotswolds lodging. It's about 1-hour drive from Stow-on-the-Wold to Birmingham airport/station...and you can take your route through Stratford-Upon-Avon (with a short stopover). Good trains from Birmingham to Conwy.

I’d suggest keeping the car and driving to Conwy. We spent a delightful overnight at Iron Bridge Gorge on the way. Rick talks about it in his book. We had a Welsh history pass that allowed unlimited castle visits and really used the car every single day. Conwy was wonderful.

If you do decide to take the train, or any portion by train, and you are traveling with a companion, consider purchasing a Two Together Rail Card. Saves up to 30 percent of the ticket cost. I did for a trip this month involving train from Bath to York, and then York to London, saved the cost of the railcard and then some. The card itself is only 29 pounds and is good for a year.

You need to spend £90 before any savings with a RailCard
Would expect it take more than 2 trips to spend that much

You originally wrote: "Drive to Conwy, 1 night."
Now you say you may take a train. Either way works. Totally your choice.
However.......
You are really shortchanging Wales. Think about taking one night away from London and adding it to Wales. You have some amazing castles there to see, but a one night stay in Wales is not enough.

Conwy is an amazing walled town with a lovely castle. However, to the south of it along the coast is Caernarfon Castle, which is even more impressive. This is why I say you may want more than one night for Wales.

Thank you for the suggestion of dropping the car in Birmingham. I will look into that.
We have adjusted the plan to allow for 2 nights in Conwy.

Regarding the train- there will be 4 of us, 2 of whom would qualify for senior rates. Would it make sense to get the Two Together pass for our 2 adult daughters and pay separately for my husband and I? Total anticipated amount of train travel: Cotswolds to Conwy, Conwy to Penrith, Penrith to Edinburgh, Edinburgh to London.

Regarding the train- there will be 4 of us, 2 of whom would qualify for senior rates

There are no "senior rates" on UK trains. You can get a Senior Railcard which gives 1/3 off almost all tickets but costs £30 per year per person. As was mentioned by others up the thread, a Two Together Railcard gives two named people (with pictures) the same discount regardless of age, and is £30 per year for the card covering the two people who must travel together (it sounds like that is what you are planning).

The trips you have listed will certainly come out at more than £90 per couple so you would start to see a profit.

The main restriction is travel during the week can't start before 9:30. Any time on a weekend or Bank Holiday. Are you OK with that restriction? And you must travel together - the card is worthless if only one is traveling with it. OK there?

If the 4 of you are all going on those longer trips you could consider having two of the Two Together Railcards, so all 4 of you are named (and with those gorgeous pictures), and being careful on ticketing to plan ahead and get cheap Advance tickets (the Railcard is valid) you can save a lot.

Hello everyone, I'm back!
We have been reworking the plan yet again. I keep going back and forth on the car vs train question. We would be renting the car in Bath (although some website searches make me wonder if that is possible, they keep having Bristol as the pick up location when I enter Bath in the search). We would tour Wells/Glastonbury, sleep in Salisbury, tour Stonehenge and Lacock, then on to the Cotswolds for 2 nights (possibly 3 as I am debating dropping the Lake District, though it pains my heart to say so). From Cotswolds area to Conwy for 2 nights, then to Edinburgh. After Edinburgh we would take the train to London.
Questions:
Is there really a car rental site in Bath?
What are your opinions on driving that much? My husband seems to think he'd be fine, so I may just be worrying over nothing, but I want him to enjoy the trip as well.
Where would you return the car? Edinburgh (higher cost because of being Scotland, not England)? Is there a good option to drop it before Edinburgh?
If I drop the night in Keswick, where would you tack it on? Bath? Stow? Other? (and why?)

Car specific questions:
The cars that come up in the search all say 4-5 passengers but then they say room for 2 suitcases. Are the car trunks that much smaller in the UK?
Do we need to be concerned about the safety of our luggage in the trunk (or should I say boot?) when we stop off on our journey to sightsee?

Lastly, thank you for your patience with all my questions!

Hertz and Europcar are in Bath.

Perhaps a station wagon or a van would give more luggage space.
We hired a Spaceship in London and lived in and drove that for 7 weeks. We frequently drove much longer distances than you are planning. One advantage for us we are Aussies so we're driving on our normal side.

Concentrate on enjoying your trip so don't worry about things like if there is a small extra charge re dropping the car off.

I haven't been to Conwy but we visited Caernarfon and that castle was one of the absolute highlights of our 7 amazing weeks. Maybe tack on the extra day there if you are skipping the Lakes.
Re the Lakes. Keswick is a nice town and the Latrigg Stone Circle is cool. But if you were driving I think Langdale, Eskdale, Wasdale are much more impressive. The drive over Hardknott is pretty awesome. Wastwater is the best lake IMHO and has the backdrop of England's highest peak. A couple of great pubs around there too.
How much time are you spending in Edinburgh and London?

Wurundjeri: Thank you for the reminder to not let an extra fee throw off the enjoyment of the trip.

If we skip the Lake District we could do 2 nights in Edinburgh, the original plan was 1 night there, arriving mid-morning and just doing minimal sightseeing, leaving the next day for London. I'm trying to decide where to spend that extra "found" night.
Current plan has us 6 nights in London at the end of the trip. There is so much that we want to see in London, and I don't want to feel rushed at each site. One of those days will be spent going out to the Harry Potter tour outside of London.

Another question: We are planning on the trip being in September or October (2023). Pros and cons of each month? We live near Seattle, so we know that it can get dark early in October here, which cuts down on sightseeing hours. We'd like to avoid crowds, so timing of being in Bath would need to avoid the Jane Austen festival in September.

Sunset in early October is around 6 pm.
Originally you weren't going to Bath, what changed your mind?

At this point we are just going to Bath straight from the airport, in order to rest, get a car, and head to Glastonbury and Wells. We will hopefully get a couple of hours to stroll around and have dinner. We decided it was the best launching point for us to get a car and start.

Cool. It's a lovely town.