Somewhere to spend our last night in the UK between Bath and Heathrow

The logical place is midway at Reading but I never suggest Reading so I won't now. Maybe Windsor? Or Richmond, which is relatively close to the airport but very un-Londonlike and has fabulous pubs, walks, Ham House, deer in the Richmond Park (a Royal Park), easy transport. Kew Gardens is next door too.

Newbury, west of Reading may fit the bill. Frequent buses and trains to Reading, also an hourly bus from Didcot Parkway station on the Great Western main line from Bath.

On one of our many visits to London we spent our last night before our Heathrow flight in Henley-on-Thames, a nice little town right on the river. It is the home of the Royal Regatta boat race and several rowing clubs.

https://www.hrr.co.uk/

We went so my husband could take a rowing lesson and experience rowing on the Thames on the classic course. We enjoyed the town so much we canceled our planned night near Paddington and went to the airport from Henley instead.

We stayed at Hotel du Vin, a UK brand we like very much—-lots of charm, and walkable from the train station. A double room there in October (midweek) is £149 without breakfast. The Relais is about the same price and even closer to the train station, so check that one too. It gets higher ratings on booking.com.

You reach Henley-on-Thames from Bath in under 2 hours, by train to Reading, changing there for Twyford and then to Henley (station code HOT). Take a walk along the river and explore the little town.

We enjoyed a very tasty dinner at the Square, a Portuguese seafood place. Fortunately we had finished before the gentleman at the next table collapsed into his plate, and my husband (a doctor) went to his aid. I comforted and calmed the wife while my husband helped the man into a suitable position on the floor and checked him over. The emergency services response team arrived fairly quickly and took over. It all turned out OK, and actually was a gratifying experience for all of us. We were invited to lunch at their nice riverside home on our next trip. First (and only) time I have seen an automatic lawn mower at work—-they had an extensive lawn sloping right down to the river that would take hours to mow by hand.

https://thesquarehenley.com/menus

To go to Heathrow the next day, you return to Twyford and change to Reading for the bus to Heathrow, or take the train from Twyford to Hayes & Harlington and catch the Elizabeth Line right into Heathrow. Note that different Elizabeth Line trains serve T4 and T5. All of them stop at the T2-3 station before going on to T4 or T5.

I am just a beginner with UK trains, so I hope the local experts will correct this if I didn’t get it right!

The trains sound righf, Lola.

I think you will find that you might like a little more time in Bath. I took this tour last April and enjoyed it immensely. However, the time in Bath was a bit short if you wanted to do much exploring on your own. I don’t know if the tour is still staying at Henrietta House, but it was not a place I would want to spend additional time at anyway…….. could you find a less expensive option in Bath for that extra night? It is very easy to take the National Express Coach from Bath to Heathrow.

You have received some great suggestions here. I especially like Lola's suggestion of Henley.

Carol (now retired) is right.....you really don't have enough time in Bath with just one night at the end of this tour.
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/england/southern-england
There's lots to do in Bath, and one afternoon plus one night just scratches the surface.
Your tour ends at breakfast the next morning and you will be expected to check out of your hotel after that.

There are about 30 threads, at least, here on this forum with lists of things to do in Bath.
One could spend 3 to 5 nights in Bath and still not run out of things to do.

Consider spending one more night there--change hotels!!

Suggestions for cheaper but excellent hotels:
Premier Inn in the center of downtown area.
Hampton Inn near the center of downtown area.

On your day of departure, you could take the bus directly to Heathrow. It's a nice coach (bus) with comfy seats (more comfy than seats on a plane) with WiFi. It will drop you at the terminals and you just walk in and up the hall to check in for your flight.

Lola, what an experience. How wonderful that you could help that man.

The River and Rowing Museum (recently flooded (!)) in Henley is a particular favorite of mine. The Wind in the Willows exhibit is simply marvelous.

We always stay in Reading when my husband has work trips (April and June this year), but staying in Henley is a great idea. Richmond, too. I think Claudia can advise on places to stay and eat there. We just went for the day because of Ted Lasso, and enjoyed it very much. Pleasant walk to Turner's house.

We did not make it to the River and Rowing Museum on that trip, as our day was pretty much filled with my husband’s lesson, a look at the UW Huskies boat (8-person) in the Henley rowing Club boathouse, and a private tour of the famous Leander Club. Apparently the Nordstrom family funds the storage of the Eight for the Huskies there.

The Leander Club is famous in rowing circles, although I cannot explain the pink hippopotamus in their logo.

https://www.leander.co.uk/

And looking at their website reminds me that they have hotel rooms in the club, open to non-members. £145 for a double room, including breakfast. I might look into that for our next visit.

In small print on their website- Leander's emblem is the hippopotamus, known in Africa as "King of the River", the only animal equally at home on land and water. Its colour is pink (officially cerise).

As far as I know pink because that was the colour of the countries of the British Empire on old style maps.

Good find, Stuart. We asked about the pink hippo when we were there and just got a shrug for an answer.

I noticed that several of the bedrooms are named for US colleges —-Harvard, Yale, and Brown.

Thanks for the great suggestions everyone! All great ideas. I think we have decided to check out and stay in Richmond for our last night and day. A bit more digging on Bath brought my attention to the fact that the Fashion Museum I really wanted to go to, is temporarily closed and moving to new quarters. Staying the extra night in Bath was appealing except for very high accommodation costs and getting to Heathrow for our flight the next day. Richmond is an easy trip to LHR and perhaps we can visit part of Kew Gardens. Richmond looks lovely. No wonder they used it for the setting of a certain Apple Series!

Cheers, Sonya (Ken’s other half)