Cotswold advice needed
 

Hi. DH and I have been plannig a trip to London and Paris for over a year. Thanks for the many tips you've given. We'll be landing at Gatwick at 6:30 AM on March 29, renting a car and seeing Wincheseter, Salisbury, and Stonehenge before exploring some of the Cotswolds. We're going to spend the night somewhere and the following evening return to London for a week's stay. We need advice on places to visit and a place to stay, maybe near Bath, but we'd love to stay in one of the little villages too. Any Cotswold experts out there?? By the way, jet lag probably won't be a big problem for us, so a full day's exploring will be okay.

What is your budget?. Chipping Campden is a really gret little village about 40 minutes from Bath and ther are several options from mid price to high. A really nice place is Cotswold House Hotel, not cheap but a true experience
http://www.cotswoldhouse.com/iflash.html

Do I understand you want to see Winchester, Salisbury, Stonehenge AND the Cotswolds on the day you land at LGW?

IMHO - you will be quite lucky (and quite likey exhausted) if you get in/out of Winchester, in/out of Salisbury, see Stonehenge, and in to Bath that day. No way you could also tour the Cotswolds.

Assuming you have your rental car and are on the way by 0900 (not a sure bet) - first stop Winchester - and that will be through lunch time for sure.

Then on to Salisbury, and to Stonehenge. By the time you leave Stonehenge it will be late afternoon.

If you want to see Bath - you'd have to do it the 2nd day before driving or taking the train back to London.

If the Cotswolds are a "must" - then you'll have to skip Bath and head north from Stonehenge and stay the night somewhere like Burford/Stow on the Wold. Next day you could drive through a bit of the Cotswolds before returning your car at LHR and heading into LOndon.

I had exactly the same thoughts as janis regarding your itinerary. Winchester, Salisbury and Stonehenge are a pretty full schedule.Skip Bath and head to one of the Cotswold towns for the night. Burford is a good choice.

Even though you have an early arrival at Gatwick, it'll take time to get through passport control, pick up your luggage and get your rental car. It will (I guarantee you) take longer than you think to get from Gatwick to Winchester to Salisbury and on to Stonehenge and then the Cotswolds.

Sorry I wasn't very clear in my message. Winchester, Salisbury and Stonhenge will just be one day. Cotswolds will be the next day. DH has seen Bath, so maybe we will skip it and go on to somewhere in the Cotsworlds for the night. I'll look into lodging in Burford/Stow area. Thanks so much.

Abandon your plan.

In fact, to be perfectly blunt about it, what you're planning is stupid and almost certainly a criminal offence. We've got enough idiots here already without adding another two.

You're planning to spend a night on a plane, arriving around midnight your body's time (I understand you live in the Mountain Time Zone) You're then plannning, with no previous exposure to Britain, to drive - sleepless - on the left, on our roads.

And you think you "probably" won't have a problem with jet lag.Probably!!!! Is that what you're going to say in court?

You're planning to take charge of a lethal weapon, drive it along some of the developed world's most congested (and fast-driving) roads, sleep-deprived and with - presumably - no previous experience.

If that sounds like criminal irresponsibility, it's because that's exactly what it is. If you're involved in an accident, you'll be held accountable (the other party, whatever they were doing, won't have been one tenth as foolhardy as you). If there are fatal consequences, you'll go to jail for manslaughter.

If all this sounds harsh, it's not remotely as harsh as anyone on the receiving end of this dunderheaded plan would be. I live on your proposed route: you might even be planning to drive past my house.

You're not welcome here, and I strongly suggest you stay at home and be a danger to someone else.

'Flanneruk' (just above) makes a serious and important point. Your proposal to 'dash' through southern England is calculated to miss all that is interesting about that part of Europe. And, as 'flanneruk' suggests, it is also downright dangerous.

Why not think of taking things more slowly? This is a holiday, after all! Perhaps just take the train from Gatwick to your first destination. For example, there are at least two train connections hourly from Gatwick Airport Station directly to both Winchester and Salisbury (sometimes as many as five connections hourly). I would suggest taking the southern route (via Fareham / Southampton) rather than the northern route (via Clapham Junction), as the southern route is much the more scenic. Either way, you'd be in Winchester or Salisbuy withion a couple of hours. Pre-book a hotel, having checked that 1. you can get a quiet room remote from traffic noise and 2. that you can get the room from about 11 am.

Then you can arrive, amble round the city, let the day develop around you, and take the afternoon nap that you will inevitably need to ward off the numbing effects of that jetlag.

Then, refreshed and revitalised, you can next morning think about picking up a car, taking advantage of the much ower off-airport rental rates that are available in cities like Winchester or Salisbury.

I hope these few thoughts help, and that you will feel encouraged to travel a tad more slowly. You might even consider travelling further by train. It is hugely more relaxing, than driving, and heavens, a car is more help than hindrance in places like Bath which have superb public transport.

And, with respect to your original qustion, when you do eventually get to the Cotswolds (perhaps after four or five days along the way, savouring the very best that slow travel through Wessex and Avon can offer), I would suggest that the market town of Moreton-in-Marsh might make a very fine base. It is to my mind better placed for touring, and it is not quite so overrun by North American visitors as Stow-on-the-Wold and Broadway. En route from Bath to Moreton-in-Marsh, you might profitably stop at Westonbirt Arboretum and Tetbury. Once at Moreton-in-Marsh, you might allow a week (at the very least) to enjoy that area. That might include a day trip to Oxford (just a half hour distant by train - definitely better by train than car), visits to Cirencester and Stow (easily combined into a single day by car) and Blenhaim Palace (one whole day, and best by car).
Nicky
editor / hidden europe magazine
www.hiddeneurope.co.uk

Flanner, the answer is so simp-le...stay inside your house on March 29th and everything will be fine. It'll give you more time to rattle on at the keyboard, too.

On second thoughts, Flanner don't stay indoors, just step outside when the OP passes by...lol

Flanners message is a serious one, however as usual he doesn't convey the information in a very diplomatic way..lol

I agree take your time, you would enjoy your time here.

In a village near Burford called Shipton under Wychwood there is a very old inn and hotel. We didn't stay there but rented a cottage down the road. The pub was great and I suspect the hotel would be very interesting.

Here is the website:
http://www.theshavencrown.co.uk/

Muck

Have you though about visiting London first, and driving through the country at the end of your stay?

Stayed at a pleasant hotel, the Bibury Court, some years back. Bibury is a tiny but very pretty village, a little off the beaten track.

I 100% agree w/ flanner's rant - Don't know what sort of brain fade I had last night when I neglected to add a sililar warning to my post. I'm usually the first one to tell folks to pick up a car the 2nd day or to only drive a VERY few miles to the 1st night's hotel. (and am often accused of being too cautious in my advice - but I used to autocross and have had sports cars all my life - a timid driver I ain't)

I stand by my basic itinerary - however I personally would NOT attempt it after an over night flight. Just navigating one's way from LGW to Winchester is pretty difficult.

It appears you have only left yourselves these 2 partial days to see half of southern England. What does the rest of your itinerary like? Do you have "wiggle room" to add a day or two?

If so, taking the train from LGW to Winchester or Salisbury as HiddenEurope mentions is a good idea. You would be in either city before noon, have enough time to see its cathedral -- and if you chose Salisbury, take a local bus to Stonehenge and back. All w/o a car and much more safely.

Then you could get your car the 2nd morning and head up to Avebury, into the Cotswolds and stay in a village as mentioned above.

Then hit london on your 3rd day (or 4th would be even better) Normall there are no drop off fees so one can rent a car in Salisbury for instance and drop it at LHR or even in central London w/o costing extra.

oh, to translate - "autocross" is a type of closed-course Sports car racing in the States.

We stayed at Yew Tree Cottage. Lovely B&B and Vivien was the best for tips as to villages to visit. We too thought Bibury was charming, as were the Slaughters. When we went to Stow on the Wold it was so busy, we totally skipped it and went to several of the smaller towns that Vivien recommended.

Here is her website ~
http://www.bestcotswold.com/

Have fun! We loved the Cotswolds but for the most part stayed away from the touristy places.