Heathrow to Crowthorne

Never heard of that company - but there are thousands of private hire firms throughout the land. £35 off the top of my head doesn't sound bad. Its not very far from LHR to Camberley. Any number of private car firms should be able to assist... does your lodgings have a particular suggestion?

Thanks Nigel...I have had trouble getting the hotel..but will speak with them. How do I find a visitor info center for Crowthorne? Is it called something other than Crowthorne? Having a heck of a time with all these names...this trip is harder to plan than the Wimbledon/Bath trip I guess I should say, a visitor center that I can email and communicate with. They were very helpful for the previous trip. But seemed easier to find too.
Thanks

If you look at a map you will see it is near Camberley, and Farnborough, Sandhurst, etc. Not every little village and hamlet will have a TI. You will need to keep broadening your search until you get one. Many TIs have been closing. I'm not familiar with the village you are seeking, I just know the area from all the military towns there.

I live close to Crowthorne - Prestige Taxis is a well-known local taxi company - I've used them in the past. £35 is the usual rate to and from Heathrow from around here. Crowthorne is only a small village and doesn't have any tourist information. However, it's part of Bracknell Forest Council, which does have (a little) tourist information - the details are on their web site It's not really a tourist area around here - the closest things that most people are interested in are Windsor (about 15 miles away) and perhaps Cliveden Anything else i can help with locally?

Welcome to the party, Tim from Berkshire. Its always good to have more folk with knowledge to share...

Thanks to you both. Re the map...I was studying it yesterday but was getting confused by the diff. names that I was seeing for apparently the same place..now I know it's in the Bracknell Forest, so that's why I was seeing Bracknell, instead of Berkshire on some things...at any rate. since we don't have to be in Crowthorne until the 8th, maybe we'll head somewhere more touristy from the 4th, 5, 6th, 7th...since we won't have a vehicle rental, I guess we want somewhere that we can use the transit instead of just taxi..maybe just stay in London..I was there in August (Bath, Wimbledon and then took train/tube? to London), and walked everywhere, but I'm having a hard time imagining how to get my mother around when she cannot walk like I did, and at times, the tube was so crowded that a walker would have been disastrous. Even the sidewalks were so crowded I acn't imagine a person with wheelchair or other to get through. Come to think of it, I don't recall seeing anyone with a mobility problem using the bus or Tube (not that I was specifically looking), So, I guess a final question would be...if you were someone that has a mobility issue, meaning using a walker and walking only short distances...such as a few blocks at a time, and you wanted to see something lovely or interesting about England, but nothing particular, where would you go? Would you stay right in London and just do what you can from there with your limited walking, or travel out father to Bath and take bus tours to Cotswolds or something? I've only been to England once, so don't have much to draw on. Thanks again for your help and opinions.. c

You are right, London can get quite crowded, and I think that you are right about the taxi for your Mom's fragility. You don't see people with Zimmer Frames outside, but I do come across triangle shaped walkers with the bigger wheels. Still I think it would be difficult on the tube and not easy on buses, especially if her movement is slow. I had a look at the campus for the school. It remonds me of when I was at school. Its quite a spread. Good luck...

The easiest to me seems to be if you were to rent a car and get out into the countryside- Cotswolds, or many other places. In samller towns and villages parking is "usually" easier than in London. An alternate would be to be in London and take day trips by coach- although that still involves walking when you get to a sight or destination

Direct trains to Crowthorne from Reading or Guildford (or, indeed, Gatwick Airport). If you want to get out of London, why not try Brighton, see the Pavilion, The Lanes and everything else there - nice seaside city I used to live near. Direct train from London, then a train back to Gatwick Aiport and change for Crowthorne (the station there is very close to Wellington College, which I visit most days of the week).

Thanks so much for the ideas. I'll check into Brighton today. Yes, maybe something where we can train directly there without too much hassle. As I say, my mom can walk with the walker, but just not long distance..I remember the Cotswold tour we took would be perfect because we didn't ever walk too far when we got off the bus and were right in the midst of the village...she even could have done the Stonehenge tour because it was easy walking...so, I'm thinking of possibly going to Bath and then doing a Cotswold tour. We'd love to go to Wales just to say we were there (her mother was born there),,but it seems that quite a chore to get there without a vehicle. And I wonder if we'd want to go to that trouble for only one or two nights in Cardiff... Won't be renting a vehicle as I can picture disaster with myself driving (seriously)...so want to do all by transit of some sort. Train sounds nice to see the countryside and get out into a less hectic area...more research to be done!

c Use National Rail Enquiries to plan your rail journeys... I hope it works well for you. Is it Cardiff that your mother's family is from?

Thanks...still working on the planning..we are going direct to Bath first via Coach, doing a Cotswold day tour, one day exploring Bath..then still need to get from Bath to Crowthorne. It is so confusing and the train/bus companies aren't much help so far when I email..they just tell me to use their website....but will get it eventually!
Yes, mom's mother was born in Rhyll, Wales...but we won't get to Wales this trip unfortunately.one of these years!

Bath to Crowthorne would be a train from Bath to Reading and then change for the train from Reading to Crowthorne. The station in Crowthorne is at the Wellington College end of the village.

cH, I saw above that you will need to travel on the 8th. What I didn't see was the 8th of which month? If its April, that's a Sunday. Sundays can be difficult on the railways because of scheduled engineering works. Two messages ago I provided a link. Please use it. Go to the first input area called "Find my train times & fares". Put "Bath" in the first box, "Crowthorne" in the next box, click the calendar icon and put in your date, then select the time, and push Go. It will bring up the choices, tell you how long your connection is at Reading, and then decide.

Thanks so much for all the help folks! Nigel, We get into Heathrow on 4 April and want to go direct to Bath, then depart Bath on 7 April to get to Crowthorne. I have checked the National Rail website and am nearly ready to book advance tix....however..I have yet another question.... Rail is comparable to coach price and shorter trip. Is there a downside to taking rail? Because now I think we will do rail from Heathrow to BAth and then Bath to Crowthorne and forget the coach altogether. Is it better to pay for first class on rail or doesn't matter that much? I can't find an explanation for first class vs coach class. I hope that 14 min btwn trains at Reading is enough for us to get to the other train? is that a large station...

Rail is comparable to coach price and shorter trip. Is there a downside to taking rail? I don't know of any, but I'm the wrong guy to ask about coaches. They are my competition so its unlikely I will give an unbiased answer - yet I really know very little about coaches. I've never used one. Is it better to pay for first class on rail or doesn't matter that much? I can't find an explanation for first class vs coach class.
Your first segment is only 61 minutes. Normally I would say that a 50% higher price wouldn't be worth it for a bigger seat and a bit more room for only an hour. It is a Saturday, though, when loads of folk rumble around the country for football and standard class can be crowded. You may be able to find a cheap Saturday first class fare. Although the trip to Bath is a bit longer, midweek it should be unnecessary unless you want more room for Mom. I hope that 14 min btwn trains at Reading is enough for us to get to the other train? is that a large station... National Rail website is your friend. If you click on Stations and ticketing and enter Reading you will get http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/rdg/details.html on which you can find all sorts of information. If you go to the bottom of the page click on Map, where you can see photos as you hover, and where each of the platforms are, and the escalators, etc. You will have seen that you will, most likely - always check the display screens - be connecting from platform 8 to platform 4, and that the nominal minimum connection time is 7 minutes so you should be fine. Just follow the signs.

Thanks again for the assistance. You've been so helpful.
We are now booked on coach from Heathrow to Bath and then will take train from Bath to Crowthorne and cab from Crowthorne to Heathrow when we depart..Whew! Now Tim...since you are from the Crowthorne area...I wonder if you can recommend some great eating spots!? Or any to completely avoid? Also, Tim you mentioned that you are at Wellington College most days..I'm just being nosy...are you a teacher or? Will you be attending the Wellington Festival? Thanks again...

There's a limited number of places to eat in Crowthorne. There is Don Beni's, a usually reasonable Italian restaurant and Kabir's/The Mango Tree as Indian places, and one of the pubs sometimes does food. You might be better off at your hotel - it depends where you are. Wellington College lets it's sport facilities out as a Sports Club for the locals, which is why I go there - I very seldom go into the College proper. I don't know which festival you're referring to, the school often has them for different themes - I'm running in Scotland over Easter.

Thanks for the tips Tim...we're at a B&B..so just need dinner options..I'm sure we'll hunt something down. There will be an international rugby festival at the college, which is why we're going. Should be a good time!