Bath, Oxford and Cotswolds, how to get to and between them?
 

We'll be spending a couple of days in London at the very end of April/beginning of May and want to take about 5-7 days after that to visit Bath and Oxford along with a bit of the Cotswolds. Since it's the beginning of a several month trip we will be leaving luggage in London and taking only a carry-on size bag on this excursion. We're interested in history, antique shops, charm, good food, nice hotels. Not particularly walkers or bicyclists.

We'd like to train or bus to either Bath or Oxford from London itself (not LHR) and return from the other city to London. It's the in-between part that's got me stumped. If we spend 2 nights in each city, what would be a reasonable place to pick up a rental car and spend another 2 nights? Should we think of train or bus to a Cotswold town/village and rent there? And would a train or bus be better to/from Bath and/ or Oxford and London?

Thanks for what I'm sure will be helpful advice.

>>Should we think of train or bus to a Cotswold town/village and rent there?<<

Trains serve very few towns in the Cotswolds . . . same w/ rental agencies. You are talking about small rural (though quite prosperous) towns/villages. Not places w/ train stations and rental depots.

If it was me, I'd take either a train from Paddington or an express coach from central London to Oxford, stay a couple of nights car-less. Then collect you car in Oxford - preferably at Hertz in North Oxford just off the Woodstock Road. That way you won't have to drive IN Oxford and be on an extremely easy route out of town and a few minutes from Woodstock. From there you can wander through any part of the Cotswolds and eventually end up in Bath - where you can drop the car at Hertz Just off the A36 bit west of the center of Bath.

This would be the easiest way to do it all . . .

Meant to add - Since the trains London to Oxford and Bath to London both use Paddington that would make it easy to leave your excess bags there while touring around (though your London hotel will likely hold them for you)

Thanks Janis, easy is good. Any preference for the train or the coach (Oxford Tube?) to Oxford? And better a train than a coach from Bath back to London?

With 2-3 nights in the Cotswolds, where should we stay? A country house hotel sounds appealing, any to recommend?

Either the train or coach (yes, the Oxford tube) are pretty comparable. The coach is cheaper, takes a bit longer, and drops you in the middle of the city. The train costs a bit more (but cheap fares are available), is quicker, but the station is a bit of a walk from the center.

For the return from Bath I'd take the train which is a lot faster. UNLESS you wanted to return to Heathrow instead of central London. For LHR, the express coach is cheeps/easiest/fastest.

Since you'll have a car you can stay anywhere in the Cotswolds. I'd personally actually rather stay IN a village or town instead of a country house. That way you won't have to drive to pubs/restaurants etc. But what is your budget?

We did exactly what janisj recommended. Took the train to Oxford and then got a rental car at the Hertz location at the edge of town which made getting out of town easier.

We then based ourselves in Stow-on-the-Wold at the Stow Lodge Hotel which is right in town but set back from the main street/square on lovely grounds. Both times we stayed in the carriage house annexe not the main lodge. The staff is extremely friendly, meals very good and overall a lovely country house ambience right in the centre of town.

Thanks Janis and Royal, I appreciate the info. Having looked at some country house prices online I think our budget probably won't extend that far. Will take a look at the Stow Lodge Hotel.

Some towns that sound appealing include Upper and Lower Slaughter, Stow-on-the-Wold, the Chippings, Broadway, too many to list. Early May sounds like it might be high tourist season. And I really can't stand main streets filled with souvenir shops catering nearly exclusively to the tourist trade. Should we avoid or choose any specific places based on likelihood of crowds or Disneyfication?

Early May won;t be the height of tourists yet - that would be July/August.

And all of the towns named can get very crowded - esp in the middle of the day. Early morning/late afternoon are likely less crowded.

Certainly see a few of the places on your list, but when it comes to really experiencing the Cotswolds, get a map and visit to those places not mentioned as must sees.

>>And all of the towns named can get very crowded - esp in the middle of the day. Early morning/late afternoon are likely less crowded.<<

Not in April/ May - as you say that isn't at all a busy season (except for the first weekend of May which is a holiday)

And except for Bourton-on-the-Water on summer/holiday weekends between 10 AM and about 3 PM you won't find crowds most places.

"And I really can't stand main streets filled with souvenir shops catering nearly exclusively to the tourist trade."

Oddly, the only place in your travels that has such a thing is a tiny strip of Broad St, Oxford where there's a group of shops selling those silly clothes American students wear, but rebranded to imply they refer to Oxford. The whole strip is at most 40 yards long, and obviously devoid of pedestrians, in a shopping area that's otherwise unbearably crowded with local people shopping for their weekly essentials.

Oxford and Bath are both significant shopping and entertainment complexes for relatively affluent regions with severely restricted land for building new commercial premises, Their centres (which are more or less identical with the areas containing their tourist attractions) are crammed more or less from 0900 to midnight, 364 days a year. Tourists contribute almost nothing to the shopping, and make up a trivial proportion of the crowds.

The larger Cotswold towns get tourists for about 3% of daylight hours a year, and few retail businesses can survive empty the other 97% of the time they're paying rent on - especially at the price of property round here. Few of their shops are geared to real necessities (there's a limit to how much fly fishing gear or wood-burning stoves most of us buy on a daily basis). But there just isn't anywhere selling "My mum went to Lower Sodbury on the Wold and all I got..." T-shirts.

Which said:
- The more visitor-oriented Cotswold towns get crowded on Mother's Day (fourth Sunday in Lent), over Easter, over the Mayday weekend and, increasingly, over the weekends of public holidays in the Near Continent (which means pretty well every weekend in May). They really come down to Broadway, Burford, Bourton on the Water and Chipping Campden: the others either don't get visitors (like Chipping Norton), don't get many (like Northleach, Tetbury and Winchcombe) or may get a bit full those weekends but don't have shops anyway (like the Slaughters and Bibury)

- See one Cotswold town and you've really seen them all. The area's real joy is the countryside, seen from its footpaths. "Do" one town, pop into its newsagent, buy the "15 nice walks round here" book and follow it. If bored, choose another walk and do that one too.

Thanks all.

Looks like we'll be in the Cotswolds on May Day weekend if we follow the plan for 2 days in Oxford first. Should we change the order of visit?

We could just pick up a car in Oxford on the 28th, visit the countryside for 2 nights, head back to Oxford on the 30th to return the car, stay there 2 days and train to Bath on Saturday May 2, returning to London on the 4th or 5th. Does that make sense?

Where would it likely be more crowded on the May 1st weekend? Cotswolds, Oxford, Bath?

I'm not clear if you realise this already, but the Early May bank holiday next year will be on Monday May 5.

Thanks Gordon_R.

janisJ and flanneruk refer to the "first weekend in May" and "the Mayday weekend" as being busy times. Do you mean that Thursday May 1 through Monday May 5 will be one long holiday period? I'm beginning to think we should "get out of Dodge" before May 1?

Does Bank Holiday mean that places we might wish to visit in Bath will not be open? Might there be difficulty getting a train from Bath to London on that day?

If taking trains check out www.nationalrail.co.uk for all the various fares and restrictions of this rather Byzantine fare structure - at least for longer journeys like to Bath. Booking far ahead can save lots of money - not for Oggsford but Bath but then it is train-specific and often cannot be changed nor refunded and as those seats are limite in number must be booked in stone far in advance.

But there is a Days Out of London Railpass that would let you hop any train anytime to Bath and Oxford and also between them - if you want complete flexibility that could be a good deal - that pass also gives you a return ticket on either the Gatwick, Heathrow or Stansted Express trains into London and back. For lots of good info on British trains and passes check out www.seat61.com - click on this site's commercial link to RailEurope USA - if an American - and see what railpasses cost and if buying book thru his site so he gets well-earned IMO commission from RailEurope; and also http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id11.html and www.ricksteves.com.

It is easy to go between Bath and the Cotswolds by train and onto Oggsford too. Once in the Cotswold local buses can take you anywhere as can the fabulous footpaths - do not miss the walk between Lower and Upper Slaughter - a few mile stroll through farms and forests between two of the cutest of many cute Cotswolds town. I base in Cheltenham Spa - great rail service and took buses around the Cotswolds so you do not need a car.

<i>Do you mean that Thursday May 1 through Monday May 5 will be one long holiday period?</i>

No, only the Monday 5th May is a holiday. Apart from that day there are no school holidays around then so no reason why the previous Thursday/Friday will be significantly busier than normal.

<i>Does Bank Holiday mean that places we might wish to visit in Bath will not be open? Might there be difficulty getting a train from Bath to London on that day?</i>

Again, no. Tourist attractions are all open for business at bank holiday weekends - it's an important source of business. Train companies typically put on a special timetable for bank holidays - and there is the possibility of engineering works - but generally there won't be any problem getting a train. Most British people either leave the country for a weekend away or use their cars for day trips etc, while trains are <i>less</i> busy than during a working day due to the absence of commuters.

Thanks so much for all your help everyone. Now on to the question of accomodations...

We are ex-pats in the UK. We work here and our kids go to school. Normal stuff. With our limited amount of time, we don't let any of the Bank Holiday weekends go by without doing something. We haven't missed a one.

Other than some gnarlier than normal traffic on Friday night and perhaps on the Monday return, I don't worry about it. Book ahead for your rooms and you'll be fine. Enjoy.

Might there be difficulty getting a train from Bath to London on that day- no like Gordon R says but he also says about essential engineering works being carried out on days when folks do not have to get to work, etc. These can make train travel at times agonizingly slow - one big fiasco a few years back when I was in the Leeds area was that trains to Leeds from some places were cancelled due to such works - causing untold problems for the zillions of folks wanting to go to the Leeds Festival by rail.

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