South England car services needed

The train system is awesome so I would really encourage you to go that route. Cornwall might be the one place you could rent a car for or use services, but otherwise I would say go with the trains.

The routes you've chosen are not ones that would be serviced by anyone other than from London and even then I'd suspect that there are few, if any, covering London to Cornwall.

As has been suggested, use trains.

You may be able to find private hire vehicle companies that will take you alone, but don't be misled by the cost to and from airports - these are priced as they are because there is a good chance they will have a balancing ride in the opposite direction. GoOpti actually works on much the same principle, with a web of fixed routes primarily centred around airports. Not much chance of someone say wanting to go from Salisbury to Canterbury on the day you want to do the reverse. So you would pay in effect for the round trip, even if you are gong one way.

Trains it will be! :-)

Thank you all.

Just saw your post. If you are still interested in a car service, we used one based in Canterbury to go from LHR to Canterbury. It is named Canterbury Airport Transfers. The web site (if my notes are correct) is taxicanterbury.co.uk/contact. The email is firstclasstravel@live.co.uk. We were very pleased with the car -- clean, roomy, well maintained. The driver drove quite safely, was most helpful loading our luggage, and commenting on various things along the way. We would not hesitate to use them again. After a long flight a car service is, in our opinion, worth the extra cost. And depending on the number of people in your party it might not be all that much more expensive than the train. Check them out and see what you think. They may be able to offer suggests for car services for some of the rest of your trip.

As noted above, you could use a car service from Heathrow to Canterbury. After that, trains work well. Some routes are much less expensive if booked 12 weeks in advance, with Advance fares. Check the U.K. National Rail website for schedule, fares, and to book tickets.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk

Plug in tomorrow's date to see the walk-up fares, then a date 11+ weeks out ( but not more than 12), like late January, to see the Advance fares. And if you are not traveling solo, you and companions may benefit from a Two Together railcard.

I suggest that you go from Salisbury to Cornwall via the direct route to Exeter. On the return east from Cornwall, you may like to take in Bath - though a shorter route does exist back to London. Should you wish to use that shorter route (avoiding Bath), then you could take a day trip from Salisbury to Bath. See www.nationalrail.co.uk - pre-book longer journeys for specific trains around 11 weeks ahead for lowest fares. See rail map:>http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/static/images/structure/css/nationalrailnetworkmap.pdf

I'm the original poster and thought I'd post an update on what I found:

I thoroughly researched the trains. Most of our itinerary would require 2 or 3 train changes between each of our destinations/stops. I found that a bit much, so I kept looking.

All I needed to do was ask, and I learned that Canterbury Airport Transfers (www.taxicanterbury.co.uk)

would also provide "door-to-door" service between Canterbury and Salisbury for about the same cost as Heathrow to Canterbury.

I also learned that Blackberry Cars Airport Transfers

was able to provide door-to-door transportation between Salisbury & Cornwall as well as Cornwall & Bath. The cost was a bit higher, but it will work for us.

Finally, we'll do the direct train from Bath to London (Paddington).

Thanks to all for your help and advice!

The changes of train are nearly always easily carried out and the trains usually run to the minute. Many of the roads are very congested.