Returning from Cotswolds to LHR Question

Windsor would be the obvious choice?

Find a nice hotel in the Chilterns https://www.chilternsaonb.org/

Closer to LHR and can be equally bucolic.

Unless you’re leaving on a Sunday, don’t drive up from the Cotswolds on the morning of your departure, as in order to get to the airport 3hrs before your flight with a little extra time to hand over the car, you’ll be catching the morning rush hour, especially on the roads heading towards London.

The suggestion to stay in Windsor is a good one - it’s a pretty place to stay and for a wander around the night before, and it’s only 10 miles to the airport from there. You do need to be at the airport 3 hours before international departure times, even if you’re used to much less time before flights within the US.

We have stayed in Windsor overnight before our Heathrow flight and it worked out very well. We spent the afternoon walking along the Thames and exploring Eton, enjoyed a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant near the river, and saw the Changing of the Guard at Windsor Castle the next morning before heading the airport by taxi. We did not visit the castle itself because it was not open at the time, but you may be able to.

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

Stay in Windsor but just make sure you allow plenty of time to get to LHR. It’s only a few miles but it’s one of the busiest routes into London and the traffic will be crawling, unless it’s a Sunday. Personally I don’t consider staying at the airport a “waste”, rather it’s a more relaxed and stress fee way of doing it than driving in from the Cotswolds and coping with the horrendous mess that is Heathrow traffic.

Windsor is always the obvious choice - if a flight is especially early just stay at Heathrow

Thanks, all! Will explore Windsor.