This is our tenative itinerary for April 16-May for England and Dublin area. My husband is set on Dublin so I've worked it in by flying rather than ferry per Janis' recent suggestion. I would appreciate any comments and/or suggestions on any part of plans.

We will arrive at Gatwick 0840 on 4/16 and catch Britrail to Reading to connect to Exeter(thanks Ron). At Exeter we will pick up rental car on 4/17. I've looked at cars through Dollar Rent a Car, Priceline and Budget. Dollar is cheapest but not a lot. Are there any hidden expenses I should watch for? Is there any particular companies any of you recommend?

We'll stay in Exeter area 2 nights to visit potters in Moretonhampstead and Langport. Will leave on 4/19 and drive to St. Ives going through Dartmoor Nat'l Park. Plan to stay 2 nights in St. Ives seeing the Tate and Leach Pottery. From St. Ives we will drive along the northern coast toward Bath stopping at Tintagel and Wells. Looks like it is about 200 miles to Bath but should we allow 2 days to drive?
4/22 or 4/23 arrive in Bath for 1 night. We visited here several years ago but spouse wants to see again and I will enjoy a spa day.
4/24 drive to Cheltenham for 2-3 nights with day trips around Cotswolds. Do you have any particular favorite places in this area? Would appreciate suggestions for what have been favorite towns, sights, etc.
4/27 Unsure whether to turn car in at Cheltenham and rail to Birmingham or drive to Birmingham. Will fly from Birmingham to Dublin for 3 nights. Ryanair fare only 84 pounds for 2 roundtrip. Guess I still a little apprehensive about driving in larger towns.
4/27-4/29 Dublin and Wicklow
4/30 Flight to Birmingham and Britrail to Oxford for 1 night. Plan to see Blenheim Palace.
5/1 Britrail to London. Would appreciate suggestions are where to stay convienent to Gatwick for early flight on 5/2.

I have heard about a Heritage Pass for attractions however, I'm not sure how much we would use. Any opinions?

Thanks for all your suggestions and comments.

Your use of the term Britrail to describe train travel in the UK may cause you a problem. There is not now and never has been an entity known as Britrail in the UK. To ask a local for directions to a Britrail station may get you a puzzled look and/or furrowed brow. The nationalized rail service used to be called British Rail, but since privatization there are now some two dozen different train operating companies. First Great Western will get you from Reading to Exeter. CrossCountry will be operating the trains you plan to take into and out of Birmingham. (The Britrail that you may know is a New York-based travel agency that sells passes and tickets for British and European trains.)

Re, your itinerary, I think it is generally good. I think you should plan on doing the drive from Cornwall to Bath over two days. While I found Tintagel underwhelming and pretty tourist trappy, I imagine you would want to spend two or three hours there. Wells and Glastonbury deserve two days, but again 3 or 4 hours would be minimum for Wells.

Re the Cotswolds, why not stay in one of the villages or small towns in the Cotswolds, rather than the large town of Cheltenham on the edge? As to what to see, Winchcombe and Sudely Castle, some of the great wool churches such as the one in Northleach, the Slaughters, Stanton, Stanway for honeypot tourist villages. One of the best afternoons we ever spent there was just to drive aimlessly on the B highways and unclassified roads.

I certainly would not drive into Birmingham city centre. I think your choice would be train from Cheltenham, or drop your car at Birmingham airport. I don't know the airport, I presume there is accommodation there.

Heritage pass is excellent if you use it, but I don't see much use in your planned itinerary.

That would be the "Great British Heritage Pass" - and I am a HUGE supporter of the GBHP. But I don't see it benefitting you much. It covers a lot but you need to use it on consecutive days which you can't because of your break in Dublin. It does cover Blenheim and a few other places on your itinerary.

I'd check AutoEurope for a rental car. It is a broker based in Maine and usually has really good rates.

You might also check for flights from Bristol instead of Birmingham. You could fly Bristol to Dublin and Dublin to Birmingham.

But it makes more sense to me to finish the whole England bit and then go to Dublin, instead of flying back and forth. Something like the Southwest > the Cotswolds > Oxford/Blenheim > Birmingham. Fly to Dublin, then fly Dublin to Gatwick.

Our favorite place to stay in the Cotswolds is Larch House B&B in Bourton-on-the-Water. Yes, I know the town is overrun with tourists, at least in the day, but in the evening it is quiet and lovely. It's a good base to explore other towns in the area. Among our favorites are Chipping Campden, Stow-on-the-Wold and Upper and Lower Slaughter. We enjoy the many walks out from Bourton, including the one to the Slaughters. Larch House does not have its own website, but you can see pictures and get information from www.a1tourism.com/uk/larchhse.html. The house is a 5-star B&B, set back from the road, with a lovely garden and private, off-street parking. It stays booked, so if you're interested, reserve ahead.

Ron, I think someone has tried to explain to me about Britrail before and I appreciate your help. I am assuming the Britrail I have been looking at is US based as you said. Question then: how do I book multiple rail trips then such as to Exeter and then after coming back from Ireland?

Also, Janis, I thought about finishing England prior to Ireland but needed a second opinion. I looked at flights from Bristol to Dublin and they were much higher than from Birmingham but I was looking at round trip. I will check flights on going from Birmingham to Dublin to Gatwick.

Thanks for your help.

Apart from the train to Exeter, as far as I can see there's no point in booking any of your proposed train journeys. Simply turn up at the station and buy a ticket (from Blenheim, that means getting a bus to Oxford first). For Exeter, www.firstminutefares.co.uk or for fares and timetables to everywhere www.nationalrail.co.uk. Play around with alternative timings for slight potential savings.

I can't understand this stuff about "round trip" plane tickets. Just book single tickets: there's a list of all flight connections between Britain and Ireland at http://www.discoverireland.com/gb/ir...getting-there/

If I was in Cheltenham, or in one of the nearby Cotswold village, already had a car, and wished to get to Birmingham Airport, then I would drive there. Going by train would take much longer, and involve waiting and walking from time to time. Birmingham Airport is to the east of the city, and you would not need to drive through the city centre, although the M42 can sometimes be challenging.

Hi mudbug,

have you looked at a map of the south-west corner of england? I looked at your itinerary, and felt confused, and I live here!

which Langport? - the only one I know is near Taunton, - not Exeter -you'll be going back on yourself if you go there from Exeter.

you can see Dartmoor when you go to Moretonhampstead

Dartmoor is NOT on the way [apart from the northern edge of it] from Exeter to St. Ives - but Bodmin moor is - including the wonderfully named "Brown Willy" [the highest point].

you SHOULD allow two days to drive up the cornish coast into Devon and beyond. IMO the high points would be:

Morwenstow

Hartland Quay [pub to stay in or B&B/hotel in or near Hartland village]

clovelly

Appledore

from there, you could head to Barnstaple and pick up the link road to the M5, or carry on along the north devon coast to Lynmouth.

but do go and get a map!

feel free to ask me any questions about the south-west leg of your trip

regards, ann

mudbug:

Here is another car broker that we have used many times and well pleased with www.novacarhire.com - no hidden charges.

You will most likely avoid any one way rental charges if you drop off at Birmingham airport.

We print off driving instructions from www.theaa.co.uk or www.mapquest.co.uk but agree 100% with annhig purchase a good road map. It is essential and you will use it often.

Sandy

Thanks so much for all the responses. I'm out the door now but will look at all of them again this evening. Ann, I really appreciate your notes on Cornwall and don't want to backtrack if we can help it.

Again, thanks and I look forward to hearing more from anyone.

Regarding Britrail. You can purchase a rail pass here, good for use while in Great Britain or just England. It covers all train companies and they are good for various time periods. If you want just do a search and pull up one of the companies that sell them. I am not sure if it will fit your needs, but I always buy one and find that it is good value and it takes away fretting over buying on the go.

I like www.multimap.com for planning driving trips in England.

We stayed at the Garrack Hotel in St. Ives for several days. View was great and food very good. It was a bit of a hill down into central St. Ives. (If you book, make them give you directions. It's very easy if you know the way, but we had a terrible time finding the hotel the first time.)

mudbug,

you're most welcome, me'ansome.

Langport is on the Willow trail - lots of woven baskets, etc. didn't know about any pottery.

in st. Ives, the Leach pottery is on what might be described as the "back" way out of town [and frankly, it's not very exciting] - up past the Tate [lovely postion and building, shame about the exhibits] and keep going.

IMO the most interesting art is in the Penlee museum & Art Gallery at Penzance [I'm off there tomorrow to work - lucky me] where they have all the Newlyn school artists like Walter Langley and Stanhope and Elizabeth Forbes. it also has a really excellent cafe.

Mirmar - actually, the Garrack is one of the easier hotels to find in St. Ives. strange but true.

regards, ann

mudbug:

For B&B's/hotels take a look at www.smoothhound.co.uk - We prefer to have worked out ahead of time where to stay, one less worry. You'll also find if you look at some of the B&B's/hotels on this site and others that they will give you lots of information on what to see in the area, map on how to arrive etc.

Good luck on whatever you decide and have a great time.

Sandy

I am so delighted with all the responses to our trip plan. Thanks for all the ideas about where to stay, places to go, etc. Hopefully, thanks to all of you, I will get the rail system straight and I know we will have a great trip. It seems many of you have already made a similar trip or England is home. How marvelous for people to share like this. I'll probably post again soon with changes for comments. Thanks again.

Susan

mudbug, Are you visiting Powdermills Pottery near Moretonhampstead? We stopped there several years ago and it is a wonderful pottery. Please post a report detailing all the potteries you visit.

In St. Ives we love the Pedn Olva hotel -- beautiful location and nice size. Also Barbara Hepworth's House is a nice complement to the Tate.

We are planning to visit the Barn Pottery close to Mortonhampstead. Somwhere I have come across Powdermills but can't remember right now. Planning tonight to look for potters in Cotswolds. I will gladly post a report when we return.

Nic's work at the Barn Pottery looks great! Here's a link to Powdermills.

http://www.powdermillspottery.com/

I don't think I have any good contacts in the Cotswolds -- never cared as much for that area. We know a family who does excellent slipware reproductions, mostly 17th century stuff, in Shropshire.