Critique needed for Cotswolds + possible Wales itenarary

Stratford-upon-Avon is at the northern end of the Cotswolds. It would be more "efficient" to take a train to Oxford, rent a car and do the Chipping Camden part first. Drive to Oxford at the end. If you are trying to do all this in 1 or 2 nights, you are going to be pretty rushed. If you aren't willing to rent a car, I think your itenerary is not feasible at all. You need to spend more time or drop parts out. It's about a 3 hr drive from SUA to Conwy. That's not worth doing if you are only going to stay one night. If you try to go with public transportation, it rates a solid "no way."

Thanks for the comments, Ken. We would like to just do this via public transport. The only reason I didn't include Oxford for this plan(we plan to do it by itself another day) is it might take up more time for that particular day. So after SUA on April 30th, 2012, we just chill and stay for that evening and night in either Chipping Camden or Moreton-in-Marsh(MIM). Then on May 1st, 2012, we leave for Wales. From MIM which place in Wales is nearby to bus or train to to spend 1 night and then get back to London on May 2nd, 2012. Are any of these doable?Swansea, Newport for south Wales and then Knighton, Llandrindod Wells and Machynlleth
Thanks

There is no bus service to the Slaughters, you will find that there isn't any bus service to some of the smaller villages. You could take the bus from Moreton-in-Marsh to Bourton-on-the-Water....Lower Slaughter is 1 1/2miles then Upper Slaughter is a mile from Lower laughter..so you could either walk or take a cab.

As Robin points out, public transportation is pretty limited in the Cotswolds. You need to really, really plan this out in great detail. There are ways to get the bus and train schedules. Venturing into the Cotswolds will not be pretty if you aren't up on your travel plans. You could always do most of it by cab but that would probably cost more than renting a car.

Thanks everyone. I finally read the entire Cotswolds chapter and now (finally!) realized what everyone has been telling me: that the only buses seems to be from MIM-Stow and MIM to Chipping Camden. So here is the proposed new plan. April 30th, 2012: London to MIM. Drop bags off at B&B in MIM. Bus to Chipping Camden. explore it. Bus to Stratford-upon-Avon(SUA)- explore it. Back to Chipping Camden and MIM. If time permits cab to Stow or Slaughters for dinner.
May 1st, 2012: Morning Next day leave for Wales (still ironing that details out)

I've taken the train to MIM, stayed in a B&B, then taken bus trips. One trip I took the bus to Stratford, then another bus to Warwick. The bus took me to near the castle. I spent a few hours at the castle, then took another bus back to Stratford and back to MIM. When I was there a couple of years ago, the buses all left from the center of town. Get a bus schedule and go from there. In my opinion, Stow is a good lunch stop, but that's about it. Chipping Camden is very pretty and is good for walking. I think the long path, The Cotswold Way starts there. You can walk to Bath from there. Burton-on-the-water is pretty, but good for only a couple of hours IMHO.

R, I thought your plan was for 4 days in the Cotswolds, away from your cousin's place. That sounded great. Throwing in far flung parts of Wales seems much less straightforward to me. April 30th, 2012: London to MIM. bags off at B&B in MIM. Bus to Chipping Camden. explore it. Bus to Stratford-upon-Avon(SUA)- explore it. Back to Chipping Camden and MIM. If time permits cab to Stow or Slaughters for dinner. R, That doesn't seem practical to me. Let's work it out with actual times: 0800 - Breakfast 0900 - Say goodbye to your cousin or take her with you and get to Paddington Station. That is Hounslow East on the Piccadilly Line nine stops to Earls Court. Change to the Edgware Branch of the District Line four stops to Paddington. This will take you at least 45 minutes if you have your tickets ahead of time. 0950 from platform 11, take the train to Moreton-in-Marsh via Reading and Oxford, arriving at 11:22.
1200 - Leave bags after finding B&B, assuming no wandering around Moreton-in-Marsh. Now I don't ride buses in the Cotswolds as I have a car and they are way too infrequent. Have a look at National Rail table of buses . You can see 4 bus routes to Chipping Campden, all noted as "infrequent". What that tends to mean in British bus speak is over 90 minutes between buses, and perhaps not every day, or sometimes just once a week. I don't have the time just now to look up all these buses for the day you are intending to travel - I'll leave that up to you. 21 has 3 a day, 22 has 4 or 5 a day, 816 has one trip on Tuesdays. Lets assume that you can get one at a made-up time of 1330. So: 1330 - Bus to Chipping Campden. cont. ...

cont.... Bus to Stratford-upon-Avon(SUA)- explore it. Back to Chipping Camden and MIM. If time permits cab to Stow or Slaughters for dinner. OK, its 1400 and you now need to get to Stratford-upon- Avon. >>> Hang on - I have real data <<< Have a look at the 21/22 bus timetable here So you can take a 22 from Moreton-in-Marsh to Chipping Campden at 1228, to Stratford-upon-Avon arriving at Chipping Campden at 1312. You will thrill to see that it goes via Broadway, one of the most beautiful villages. You get an hour at Chipping Campden (very, very tight to do anything, no time for a meal) and can get the next bus to Stratford-upon-Avon at 1412 which arrives at Stratford at 1445. Or take the school bus (school days only) at 1542, arr SAV at 1625. 2 hours minimum in Stratford (you still haven't eaten yet) The last two buses from Stratford are the 1645 via Chipping Campden and Broadway arriving Moreton-in-Marsh at 1802, or 1755 arriving 1857, missing Broadway. OK .... whew... Now dress for dinner and meet your pre-arranged taxi for a late dinner in Stow-on-the-Wold. Maybe the Grape? And taxi home for a late crash out. Better you than me, R. If you want to eat at Lords of the Manor at Upper Slaughter I would advise staying at the hotel there. If you can afford the Michelin Starred restaurant you can afford the 4 star hotel. If you are non-resident guest you will need to book up months in advance. That's the only place to eat in the Slaughters that I know of. My parents used to live 2 miles away. And now you will sleep a few hours and head to Wales because you are searching for a scenic place? I think you may find that where you have already just been.

Are any of these doable?Swansea, Newport for south Wales and then Knighton, Llandrindod Wells and Machynlleth
Swansea - 4 hours by train with 3 changes from Moreton in Marsh. Newport - 2:15 to 3:00 with 1 or 2 changes - but goodness me, what's there? Knighton - never heard of it - 4 hours to 7 hours with 2 or 3 changes Llandrindod Wells - 4:30 to 7:30 with 2 or 3 changes Machynlleth - talk about the middle of nowhere - nearly 5 hours with 2 changes. R, You are talking about doing this on a one nighter and then straight back to London, right?

Nigel :) With regards to your second to last post with real data and the dry-run, all I can say is "Smack ME in the head! What WAS I thinking! Well, I wasn't thinking!!" Thank you for taking the time to even do that exhaustive research! It is not in vain though for 2 reasons: 1) I'm now gonna allot 2 days to Cotswolds overnight(April 30th night stay and May 1st night stay(that way we can also visit the MIM Tuesday market) and leave to get back to London. So new proposed itenerary: April 30th, Monday: 1) Train or bus to Oxford. 2) Explore Oxford and lunch there. 3) Bus or train to MIM. Settle down in B&B. May 1st, Tuesday:(Will have to work out bus details for specific villages) 5) Attend market in MIM. 6) Bus to Stratford via Chipping Camden. 7) Explore Stratford. Have lunch there. 3) Back to Chipping Camden. Explore it. Dinner there. 4) Depending on how much time and bus schedule explore Bourton. May 2nd, Wednesday:
Leave for London OR Wales (Ughh ..woe to me BUT we all are very keen on getting atleast a small slice of Wales, if it be Cardiff via MIM or perhaps Cardiff on another day as a day trip for London. However I believe the with me alloting 2 night stays in Cotswolds its doable.

Nigel regarding your last post I seriously was ROTFL especially the Newport one where you were like "Newport - 2:15 to 3:00 with 1 or 2 changes - but goodness me, what's there?" I've been Wikipedia-ing all those towns and also went to the offical Wales sights to read about it and came to pretty much the same conclusion. However that being said, I think we'll still either do a seperate day trip to Cardiff just to whet our Wales appetite OR got to cardiff via MIM after our Cotswolds trip and then stay there overnight, before returning to London. Thank you for your personal inputs as a native though. It helps put a realistic spin on things.

We loved the little boarder town called Chester, it is a walled city, very quaint