On our next trip to England, my husband and I want to see a bit of the countryside. We would like to see Windsor, Stonehenge, and the Cotswolds. We wouldn't dream of trying to drive in London, but what if we rented a car from Heathrow upon arriving and did our daytripping before heading in to London? I'd have to look at our maps a little closer, but Windsor looks close to Heathrow. What if we drove from Heathrow to Windsor, then to Stonehenge, and then to the Cotswolds where we would like to spend a couple of nights before heading back to Lon don? IS there another place to drop off a rental car between Cotswolds and London? What about rental car prices?
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
It's not a bad idea to rent a car at Heathrow and head for Windsor and Stonehenge. We did that and also included a visit to Winchester Cathedral. We went on to spend 5 days in Bath. We did several day trips out of Bath.
In Bath, we stayed at Three Abbey Green, a guest house about 500 feet from the Roman Baths. We were easily able to find parking in the public parking lot 2 blocks away next to the Police Station. Parking will run about 12 pounds a day. In our lot, you just keep feeding in the pound coins and it will cover you overnight.
As for Oxford this would be an excellent day trip out of London. You could use the train system for this journey.
For the Cotswold, it may be more than a day trip. You've indicated that you would like to stay there. Great. A rental car would be best as the train only goes to one town and you will do a lot of waiting for the buses. We had a car and stayed in Chipping Campden. We were able to see all of the major towns of the Cotswold plus several smaller areas. We were even able to day trip the Blenheim Castle and Oxford from Chipping Campden.
Posted by
Troy, Oh, USA
2804 posts
Hi Cindy, I would suggest after arriving at Heathrow, take a taxi to Windsor (which is a 15 minute ride) plan to spend the night in Windsor, you could tour the castle, walk to Eton and if you want tour Eton College (actually a middle/high school) where all the royals send their sons, and visit Great Windsor Park, the next morning take a taxi to Slough (10 minute ride) to pick up your rental car.
From Slough go to Stonehenge, then up to the Cotswolds. Take A4 out of Slough to A30 then to A33 then to A303 which take you to Stonehenge. Then after Stonehenge take A303 west to A360 north to A342 To A429 which will take you right into the Cotswolds. It goes into Bourton-on-the-Water which is a wonderful village to use as a base. When you want to leave the Cotswolds you could take A42 north to A424 go into Stow-on-the Wold then get onto A436 take to A44 to A34 south which will take you to Woodstock there you could see Blenheim Palace after Blenheim take A34 into Oxford and drop off the car.
Then take the train into London.
Posted by
OP
Guthrie, OK
251 posts
Good ideas, everyone! Thank you!