navas_am

Hi folks,
I'm a newbie to the forum but was reading thru' various postings for the last one week. I'm travelling to UK in June for 8-days vacation with my family- wife and 2 kids (9 & 3 years old girls). First three days will be spend in London and then travelling to Edinburgh to attend my MBA graduation ceremony. We want to spend a night at any of the Cotswolds village for a night and planning to visit on our way back from Edinburgh to London. It is much appreciated if someone could advise us the best way to do this. My plan is to fly by easyjet from Edinburgh to Bristol (£38 p.p) and then take a cab or bus or rent a car to the stayplace at Cotswolds.
Could you please recommend some nice picturesque Cotswolds village, easily accessible from Bristol and good (but economical) B&B/ cottage?
The next day we plan to get back to London.
Thanks in advance

Lifeman

You'll struggle to find a cottage rental for just one night. To take a cab from Bristol Airport will be horrendously expensive to somewhere like Stow on the Wold, which is 70 miles away. I'd guess that it would cost around £2-£3 per mile.

I'd rent the car, visit Stow and then leave the car by arrangement somewhere outside of central London to avoid the congestion charge.(At the airport if you're heading straight back home).

flanneruk

There's no direct public transport from any airport to any Cotswold town small enough to interest you. A prebooked local car from the nearest airport is typically £80-90 each way, though public transport into London is about £20-£25.

From Birmingham (BHX), Bristol or Heathrow airports (they're equidistant overall) you need at least 2 changes of bus and/or train to get to Chipping Campden, Stow, Burford or Tetbury.

Your overall plan really needs to be to hire a car at the English airport (probably BHX, since it's nearest the North Cotswold towns) and drive to the town of your choice. Then drop it - at Oxford if you're comfortable with the traffic, at Heathrow, or in London: most central London hire depots are outside the congestion zone.

Since the towns are interchangeable, it doesn't much matter which. See the Cotswold AONB site for lists to choose from.

Incidentally: if you're travelling from Edinburgh to London and want a night in a pretty English village or small town: wouldn't a village near York be easier?

navas_am

Thanks a lot for your advice, guys. I dropped the plan to visit Cotswolds this time due the logistics issues. Instead, I will plan a whole day trip to Windsor, Eton and Legoland.