This leg of our trip planning is tougher than I could have ever figured out. I think it is the fact of not having a car to tour the Cotswolds that is the major stumbling block. Studying the map of the area everyday has totally fried my brain! I can’t decide on what town to pick as the most convenient home base. We have from August 20th through the 23rd. Moreton-in-Marsh, with the railway station….rather than Bath or Cheltenham? I am leaning that way. My only question is would Moreton-in-Marsh be too small a town to call home base for the three nights? Also would I be able to get tours out of Moreton which could take me to some of the other picturesque little towns/villages? I would love to do some walking around and find a stable for horseback riding for my daughter ( for whom this would be the highlight of the whole trip to Europe this summer). We need to get back to London on the 23rd to catch the Eurostar to Paris (with luggage) the same day….so I guess it would be easier if we were in Moreton-in-Marsh. Suggestions and ideas are really welcome….I can’t think any more!

Moreton is big enough to be a base, without having the miles of drecky suburbs that make Bath or Cheltenham far less satisfactory bases.

I'm not aware of any organised tours from Moreton, though this proves nothing. Moreton has a reasonable scheduled bus network to places such as Chipping Campden and Broadway, though this is primarily timed to get children to school and the elderly to clinics. I THINK this link is up to date:
http://www.cotswoldsaonb.com/bus_tim.../north_bus.asp.

Every shop in town (and every other town in Britain) sells little books with names like "30 great walks round here", with a range of walks from 3 mile meanders to proper all-morning 15 milers. There are none round Moreton of such startling gloriousness it's worth preplanning, or of such awfulness you need to warned off. Just buy a book and choose something that suits your timetable.

Horseriding is likely to be trickier, since places that rent horses out tend not to be next to railway stations.

The Cotswold Line is dismally unreliable. It's increasingly unacceptable round here to travel by plane, and increasingly fashionable to holiday in - say - Morocco by surface transport. Every single boast about this (you can get from Moreton to Saigon by train, you know) ends with the phrase "and do you know, the worst part of the whole journey was standing on the platform here, worrying I'd miss the Eurostar".

So get the train at least an hour earlier than the one the timetable says would get you to Paddington comfortably in time to check in for your Eurostar.

If you go to http://tinyurl.com/32xg8l, you'll see a list of places that offer riding. One looks as if it's in Moreton.

It isn't. This isn't because they're being deceitful, but because the British system of postal addresses always requires the use of a post town - the settlement where letters for the address concerned used to be sorted before all these things got rationalised. In fact, the stables concerned are about 10, public transport- free, miles away in Chastleton - though if you can organise yourself to get there, prebook a tour of Chastleton House from the National Trust site. By many, many light years, THE most interesting grand (well, faded grand) house for miles around, knocking Blenheim's tacky vulgarities into a very large lake.

All the stables on the site above are inaccessible by public transport. You need either to see if they'll collect you or organise taxis.

Thanks for your response and advice Flanneruk. I am, now looking for a place to stay in Moreton. It seems to be sort of centrally located. I will check out some of the riding stables from the link on your response and let’s see what we can work out. I would definitely be open to going by taxi to the place…if I can find one. I think I shouldn’t have opened my mouth and suggested it in the first place before I knew if it was possible. Now my daughter has her heart set on it and it will certainly be the highlight of her whole trip! Thanks again for your response in helping me clear up my doubts. I think I would prefer to be in a little town as opposed to larger places such as Bath or Cheltenham……decision made!

NE: Where else are you going to be during your trip? I ask because there may be places (even w/i London) where there are riding stables that are more convenient that in the Cotswolds.

BTW - you may already know this, but a term you can google to find riding stables is "pony trekking".

Thanks Janisj, I didn't know about 'pony trekking'. I'll try it out. We will be in London for three and a half days before heading to the Cotswolds.