telephone calling cards

Ron, since you are driving you really don't have to make reservations a head of time. I know, that most people on here have all their reservations made a head of time. By doing this you have to be at a certain place on a certain day. By finding a room as you go gives you much more freedom, when the time of the day comes that you want to stop for the day start looking for a B&B sign, when you see one stop and ask if they have a room available for the night.
Most of the time they will offer to show the room before you agree to take it. We have done it this way on every trip (and yes, a few trips have been during the summer months) by doing it this way you aren't rush and can take your time staying as long or as short of time you want in villages, it's much more relaxing. Or you could go to the tourist information center in each village and they can get a room for you.

We have never had to drive around looking for a place or spent a lot of time, you will pass a lot of B&B signs.

Steve,

I can't believe you would deprive Ron of one of the richest cultural experiences anywhere - all the "escort" stickers inside of London phone booths (although I heard they were going to clean that up).

Ron,

For the cheapest option, especially since you will be in one country, stop at a news/tobacco stand and pick up a one-country PIN card. Yes you have to use a phone booth and not everyone works, but it's not that hard to make it work (at just a few cents per minute). You might even want to grab an escort sticker or two for your journal (no bigger than a wine label).

Thanks to all of you above. I appreciate the comment about "winging it" for maximum flexibility on where we stay. However, it would seem that being able to call various B&Bs in a given city (once we get to where we wanted to spend the night) would be helpful and save a lot of needless driving.

I realize that going to a TI and seeking their assistance would also help in that regard. I think we will be taking a Verizon furnished international phone (30 day rental) that we would essentially be carrying for limited use ,i.e. safe arrival calls and any emergencies that might arise. Beginning to think that this mobile unit, plus a phone card is the way we should go.

Do not count on always being able to find a telephone box when you need one, they seem to be a dying breed. It is a good excuse to pop into a pub and use their public phone!

Because it's a long time since I used one cannot rec a card. I used to use a card issued by BT but am sure that there are now lots of others.

http://www.payphones.bt.com/publicpayphones/paymentprices.htm

PS - just looked at the link Steve gave and it needs refining. In the UK you can buy basic unlocked phones including £10 call time for under £15.

"However, it would seem that being able to call various B&Bs in a given city (once we get to where we wanted to spend the night) would be helpful and save a lot of needless driving."

Yep.

In London, I got a phone card for 5 pounds at a newsagent shop in Euston rail station. I am sure you can get one anywhere like that.

I think it would have gotten me 120 or 150 UK minutes, but I used it to call home in the US and still got 45 minutes, which is all I needed it for.

Can one of these cards be purchased at Heathrow or any of the train stations?

Do you really need one that soon? They are sold in newsagents shops (newspapers, drinks, snacks)which are probably on every main street and some smaller streets, and in some tube stations.

You can also use a phone booth if you have coins, I think its 40p for every few minutes or so.