Accommodation
 

Could anyone advise or have stayed at the Holiday Villa Hotel in Bayswater London
or know a good 3 star Hotel close to that area.
Also is it best to buy Oyster card for travel staying London 4 nites then hope to travel onto Sussex via Sutton Surrey Crowborough Turnbridge Wells and Battle
Will need to use public transport, also wondering about accommodation early Sept in these areas. Cheers

Look for room/dinner deals at Tunbridge Wells Malmaison (part of a chain.) They are running a promotion at the moment. It's an easy walk to the rail station or buses.

Crowborough? i used to live near there.

possibly a B&B would be the best bet, as it's quite a small place.

also, if on public transport, how are you planning to get there?

Oyster card is for London only - not for cities in other parts of the country. For those you will have to take trains - and search for fares and which train stations you need to leave from. Are you planning on seeing these places in sequence s- and have you checked routes by train - or bus/

Is there a reason you want to stay in Bayswater? It isn't he most central location and is a bit of a schlepp to get anywhere.

Thank you for all replies Janis only reason for Bayswater is a package from travel agent suggesting this hotel.
Annhig thought would be able to use buses for Crowborough what transport would be available there, Is it hard to sightsee without a car?

Seemed to have left our booking too late lots of accommodation is taken thru Sept
wondering if we should delay our trip until next year
Would late Feb/March be suitable weather wise?
Disappointing but want to enjoy the visit especially able to stay in a thatched cottage and some of the cute B/Bs

As a rough rule of thumb, thatched cottages and public transport are incompatible. At a pinch, thatched cottages, a 5 mile taxi drive from the nearest railway station and a daily one-mile walk to the nearest bus stop for the twice daily bus might work - but I wouldn't bank on it.

All the places you mention are on railway lines, and there are some buses in Crowborough (http://www.crowboroughtowncouncil.go...rain-info.html). But don't expect thatched cottages nearby. All B&Bs usually assume customers have cars: they're likely outside larger towns to be a considerable walk from the nearest bus.

For all public transport in Britain, www.transportdirect.info.

I don't imagine for a second everywhere booked in September: February's an awful time for travelling in the British countryside (though perfectly fine for London). March is OK if you're happy with our civilised weather and don't have any weird foreign ideas about life being unsupportable at temps below 10 C, or with a few drops of rain.

>>is a package from travel agent suggesting this hotel.<<

<i>Another</i> reason to not use a travel agent.

You consult a 'professional' and the best s/he can come up with is a tourist hotel in <i>Bayswater??</i>

What is your budget?

I would strongly suggest the area around Gloucester Road tube station -can take the Piccadilly line straight to the tube station from LHR in 45 minutes. The area has a mini shopping mall with a Waitrose grocery store,Boots drugstore , Tesco Express grocery and various pubs and restaurants. I like the Holiday Inn Kensington there but there is a NH Harrington,Millennium Hotel etc. all within a short half block of the tube station. The main tube lines like Circle,District and Piccaddily are all there with an elevator for easier access.
Also look at the Holiday Inn-Bloomsbury which is a block from Russell Square tube station and across the street from Brunswick Mall,near the British Museum and Library and has great tube connections all over London. it is located in a "neighborhood" which I love and would strongly recommend the Cornwallis pub across the street for a great meal! My son went to grad school at UCL and lived in this area and I loved it!

Going back to the original question, for 4 nights in London, it's marginal for value-for-money, as between pay-as-you-go money on Oyster and a 7-day travelcard, unless you're seriously likely to do no more than a couple of journeys each day (in which case, stick with PAYG).

Sutton is more or less a suburb of London, so probably best visited on a day return from Waterloo. Tunbridge Wells and Battle are on the same railway line, but for Crowborough you'd have to go back into London and out again, unless you can find a local bus service through Transport Direct.

Would you consider including Rye in your itinerary? It's a charming town with half-timbered houses, cobbled streets and cozy tea rooms and is less than 1 hour by train from Battle. I don't know about thatched-roof accommodations, but there's the historic Mermaid Inn, rebuilt in 1420, with a cellar dating back to 1156. It's in the center of Rye and worth at least a visit to one of the lounges for a drink by the fire. Rye would make an excellent last stop before returning to London. Train from Rye to London is 90 minutes. Good luck with whatever you decide.

For lodging and other things, try londontown.com

I stayed in Bayswater once and really liked it. I've since stayed in Kensington, and think I actually liked Baystwater a bit better (and it didn't seem to take as long to get down to the very center as from Kensington, either). I liked it because I was only a couple blocks from a tube station, but was only one block from Hyde Park which was very nice, and there were some reasonable pubs, Indian restaurants and other shops in the area.

This is the place I stayed, it is nice because it is on Lancaster Gate, which is one street off the main road, so not noisy.
http://www.lancastergatehotelhydepar...efault-en.html

They had a really good buffet breakfast, also.

>>I've since stayed in Kensington, and think I actually liked Baystwater a bit better (and it didn't seem to take as long to get down to the very center as from Kensington, either).<<

That's because, if anything, Kensington is even less convenient to sites. Has to do w/ which tube lines a place is on/near.

Both are decent areas (Kensingtn especially is VERY nice) but both are quite far from where most first time visitors will want to spend most of their time.

I've been in Kensington, I know what it is like, and where people want to spend "most" of their time is irrelevant, now isn't it. It is where their hotel is, not where they plan to spend most of their time. You obviously have some scorn for Bayswater given your use of italics and incredulity that anyone would want to stay there.

There is nothing wrong with Bayswater, I've recommended that hotel I stayed in to several folks, all first-timers, and they all said they liked the location a lot. It's hardly that far out. Some people actually don't want to stay where they intend to spend most of their sightseeing time.

No, I honestly don't think it is irrelevant where folks might be spending most of their time. . .