UK to Connelles, france

I would take a train from Bury into London, then the Eurostar to Lille.

Hire a car in Lille for your time in France. Return the car at Lille then take a train to Bruges.

Train back from Bruges to London etc.

Do not rent a car in the UK and bring it to France. Take the train to France via London.

I'd suggest the train, although it will require multiple changes. Bury St Edmunds to London. Eurostar to Paris. Since Connelles is so small, you might have to go from Paris to Rouen to pick up the rental car, then drive back the 30 or so km to Connelles.

Rather than going all the way to Paris, cross Paris between stations, and get to Rouen, I agree with the suggestion to drive from Lille. It looks like a 3h15 drive, and it will be convenient to go back to Lille to return the car then head to Bruges - or keep the car, because renting for 7 days or for 5 days often costs almost the same.

Thanks to everyone for your replies! It really helped me in my logistics planning. I didn’t have a clue before!

what's happening in Bury St Eds?

My son stationed near there. Lol, but he tells me there’s lots to see in his area as well!

true enough. Mildenhall has all sorts of excursions that they can go on - but I don't know if they are planning on locking the base down. I have certainly seen much more heavy aircraft movements in the past 10 days. I hope everything is back to normal by the time June rolls up for you.

South of Bury St Eds is Lavenham, a beautiful small town. North, Thetford Forest isn't far, and pretty nice; not a million miles away is the Queen's home of Sandringham.

West, there's Newmarket, the home of horseracing, and then Cambridge which is, well, Cambridge and all that means....

So yup, plenty to do.