UK Travel on Boxing Day

http://www.transportdirect.info/ comes up with: 13:00 Bath Bus Station: 339 bus to Bristol Bus station 14:15 Bristol Bus Station: 531 National Express Coach to Birmingham 17:00 Birmingham Coach Station: 305 National Express Coach to Chester
arrive 19:15. You could drive this in about half the time.

No trains on Boxing Day. Perhaps taxi, if you can find one - it would be extremely expensive. Perhaps a car rental if it is started before noon on Christmas Eve would be lots cheaper. You could go via National Express coach taking at least 8 hours. Because the usual route of Bath to Bristol to Birmingham to Chester isn't available that day the coaches are serving the airports. The route is not findable as a direct connection from Bath to Chester. If you break the request into Bath to Birmingham you can get to Birmingham via a coach to Heathrow and then a coach from Heathrow to Birmingham, taking from over 5 hours to under 6 hours. You can then find an occasional coach from Birmingham Coach Station to Chester taking 2.25 hours but they are infrequent. I see one at 1300 and one at 1700 that might work. You'll have to jump if you want anything like a reasonable fare - they go up as the coach fills and the time is approaching. Traffic on the roads on Boxing Day may be challenging - both for coaches and for cars. Could you not travel a different day than Christmas Day or Boxing Day?

Regarding prices, the route from Bristol to Chester via Birmingham currently has a cheapest adult fare of £38.50. The Bath to Bristol portion is on a First bus, so isn't bookable - and looking at the First site may not actually be running anyway.

Thank you for the responses and help. We are exploring buses, renting a car, and altering our travel plans.
There's lot of traffic on Boxing Day, yet nothing is open and running? There's so much I don't understand about Boxing Day! Next, you'll tell me people jump in frigid water and roll barrels down the street.

But you missed the bit about the barrel being on fire.