Advice for England Itinerary - Sept 2010

Could you drop your car in Bath after Oxford? then take the train to York? That would save some drop-off fees.

This is a wonderful itinerary, Nan. I wish I were going with you!

I have one suggestion. You might want to rent the car before you go to Wells. Then you could drive on to Glastonbury, which is a very neat place, especially if you are into the legend of King Arthur. Of course this would cut into your Bath time and might not give you enough time to see everything in Bath, especially if you are jet lagged on the first day and don't accomplish much.

We LOVED Chipping Campden. We went the opposite direction on our trip in summer 2008, but it seems reasonable. We did more time in York, but wish we didn't, so you'll probably be okay. Where are you staying in Chipping Campden? We loved the Dragon House B&B. It was our favorite on the entire trip.

Thank you so much for the quick replies. I’ve put a lot of time/research into this trip thus far. I haven’t even begun planning out the London part of the itinerary yet, so I’m sure I’ll be back for more advice.

Steve - I hadn’t heard of europebycar.com so I did a comparison and found that it was much less to rent from autoeurope.com. However, I will continue to check to see if the prices on either site drop.

Toni - I had not thought of dropping the car in Oxford to take the train to York. I know it will be a long drive for my husband, but we drove through Ireland a couple years ago, so he won’t have a problem driving on the left and we like to explore as we go.

Carroll - I had originally considered renting the car prior going to Wells then on to Glastonbury. But, you are correct in saying, that it would take away time in Bath and it looks like there is a lot to see there. I’ve also read so much about not having a car in Bath so it would have meant parking somewhere for night, which I wanted to avoid. I really want to see Wells Cathedral so I thought the bus would be the better option. Although it probably would take less time to drive ourselves. Now I’m rethinking my plan. Maybe the B&B will have parking.

Cary - the Dragon House B&B looks adorable. If you recommend it, I will take your advice and make the reservation there. Thanks!

Any recommendations for accommodation in Bath and York?

I stayed at the Belmont B&B in Bath just a few weeks ago and it's both central and affordable. They can make suggestions for parking, although I heard from another guest that he found parking in Bath to be a hassle.

When you start planning your London time consider reading the article I wrote for AAA Carolina's "Go" magainze a couple of years ago. I'll put the link at the end of this post. It is about basing in London and doing day trips by train.

If it asks for a zip code, use 28208 and if it goes to current issues, click on archived issues and select jan/feb 2008. Let me know if it is helpful and feel free to pm me (we've been to the UK ALOT - more than 40 times in 20+ years)

http://www.aaacarolinas.com/Magazine/2008/Jan-Feb/britain.htm?zip=28201&stateprov=nc&city=charlotte

In Bath, the Villa Magdala hotel/B&B also has guest parking, and is a short walk from the Abbey area across Pultney Bridge. One advantage of staying there is that you will be on one of the roads out of town, which will minimize the amount of driving you have to do in Bath itself. I haven't been in Oxford in a long time, but as I recall the traffic was horrific. You might want to by-pass Oxford on day 6, and do it later as a day-trip by train from London. I also notice you don't have Cambridge on your itinerary...of the two, I think Cambridge may be the better tourist experience, and it is easily reached from London as a day trip.
Your plan seems very solid, and sure to produce an excellent trip. One cannot see everything, no matter how long one stays, and your itinerary does not seem rushed. Of course, if you are a Beatles fan, Liverpool really is worth a visit. Coventry Cathedral....the ruined cathedral left just as it was after the Blitz next to the ultramodern one...is a memorable experience. But these could easily wait until your next trip. Have a great time!

Thank you all for your advice, as well as recommendations for accommodations. I will check them out.

Toni – I printed out the article you wrote. It was really interesting. The day trip to the Cliffs of Dover really caught my eye. I’m wondering how I can maybe squeeze that into the itinerary.

Roe – I did look into Cambridge by train from London. The train seemed awfully expensive to me. Perhaps I am doing something wrong. If I can fit it in during our stay in London, I would like to see it. From Rick’s video, it looks like it would be a very pleasant day.

If you are going to do several train trips, check out BritRail passes. They can be expensive, but are sometimes well worth it. We like to use them because we like to be flexible (weather, etc may change our plans) and don't want to pay the really expensive walk-up point-to-point prices. I LOVE traveling by train in the UK.

Dear Nan: I checked the National Rail website, using Feb.1 2010 as a date since I don't think tickets can be purchased more than a few months ahead. I got prices depending on time of day of between 19 and 27 pounds for a round-trip 2nd class (standard class, what we call coach) ticket. That is approximately $28 to $40. That is not cheap, but compared to what one would spend on driving a car in gas alone I think it is still reasonable. And as one approaches September of next year, it might be possible to find cheaper "advance" fare tickets...these were the "off-peak" and "anytime" return tickets. If you were getting higher fares than this something is wrong....you might look on the website of the carrier, First Capital Connect, to see the prices they list as well as on the National Rail site (National Rail is a clearinghouse for information on all British rail companies). Given that you are taking the train from York to London and could conceivably fit other train rides into your itinerary, I agree that you might also consider the Brit rail pass. If you were pricing tickets on the Rail Europe site, be aware that they charge an arm and a leg, and you can get better prices by dealing direct with British/European rail sites on the Web....and of course, the English ones are all in English. My wife and I recently took the train from London to Bath/return to london for about $25 per person, and Cambridge-London should be roughly the same as the distance is about the same.

In York, we stayed at Number 34 (that was the name, I think it was on Bootham). It was nice and tidy, but the owners both worked full-time so it didn't have the same feel. We only saw the owners once - breakfast was made by Amy's mom. It was pleasant, but not as interesting as the places we stayed elsewhere.

We do recommend the free guided walks mentioned in Rick's book. We also took the one of the ghost tours as well that was really good (it wasn't gimmicky at all - just stories).

Have fun! :)

Wow this sounds really ambitious to me, but the only thing I would advise skipping if you really want to squeeze all this in is Gloucester Cathedral. You're seeing loads of other cathedrals and I can't see what this would add except even more driving. Gloucester itself is not really worth visiting. If it was me I would go at much more leisurely pace - eg a full day in Oxford without squeezing in Blenheim and maybe skip York. To me all these small old cities have a very similar feel. But it's personal preference.

Nan-Our trip to England was this past September and very similar to yours. We also took the bus to Wells as Rick recommends, but we first went to Glastonbury and then the bus back to Wells. We really enjoyed that day; looking back, I think we enjoyed Glastonbury even more than Wells. If you have any interest in Stonehenge, you could do a Mad Max Tour which includes Lacock (half-day tour) plus Avebury and Castle Combe (full-day tour). We wanted to cut down on the days driving, so we took the train to Oxford from Bath, left our bags in the funny but handy backpacker's hostel, had a look around Oxford, and then picked up our car for a stay in Burford. From Burford as a home base, we toured Blenheim Palace, Bibury, etc. We loved the atmosphere of Burford, by the way. Also stayed in Chipping Campden - at The Chance B&B - my husband would love to go back and stay there for a month! It was our favorite B&B. At the end of our Cotswold stay, we went up to Stratford-Upon-Avon for a short visit and dropped off our car there before taking the train to York for a few days (loved York, but I don't recommend 23 St. Mary's - rooms are fine, but the hostess was a little too Type A for me and very impersonal and always asked us how many in our party and my reply was always the same - just the two of us.[We didn't multiply in numbers overnight!] One morning we came down for breakfast, but she didn't want to give us a "four seater." She wanted us to wait for breakfast until a "two seater" opened up; finally relented after we told her that we had a train to catch.) Our best evensong experience was at York Minster. Those seating us couldn't have been nicer and one of the clergy invited us to sit in a section that was reserved for other clergy. Then it was off to London by train. I think your itinerary is well-thought out and you'll see quite a bit in two weeks.

Thank you all for your input! Helen, I am re-working the plan to skip Gloucester. Although I really wanted to see the Cathedral, it seems to be out of the way. Instead, we will go from Bath to Lacock to Chipping Campden. Thank you all for the recommendations for accommodations. It is always very helpful to hear from others’ experiences.