Hello,

We are looking for ideas for villages in the Cotswalds that have a high concentration of cottage gardens. I know there are many beautiful formal gardens in the area which we also plan to visit but I would love to walk and bike down streets and lanes to view "real" cottage gardens that we American gardeners love so much. Where are the villages with the informal gardens you have loved the most?

We are trying to do this via public transportation but are happy to bike fairly long distances.

Perhaps this is a naive question and the answer is "everywhere." I would be happy if that is the case but hope that those of you with knowledge of the area can give us some pointers.

Booker17

First Booker, I think you'll find exploring the Cotswolds without a car very difficult. There are not many villages with train service to my knowledge. Oxford is easy by train and there's a station in Stratford on Avon but I can't think of many others. Next, assuming you find sufficient public transport, where do you find the bikes?? Perhaps Ben Haines might be able to help on this one.

Finally, I would say it won't be so easy to find the cottage gardens because they're mostly hidden. I do recall one of the Slaughters (upper or lower-it's the one with a canal through the middle) had more exposed gardens.

i agree that you will find it almost impossible to do the cotswolds without a car....i don't remember seeing any public transportation there, at least in any of the villages....rent a car and really enjoy it...if you are nervous about driving around london, take the train to oxford and rent a car there or some other larger town in the cotswold area OR rent a car at windsor or near heathrow and drive up...gardens are everywhere

1. A source that might interest you, though slighly off brief, is the National Gardens Scheme (www.ngs.org.uk) - a register of private gardens that open themselves up for charity. Follow links foe Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire. The nicest gardens in this part of the world are at the back of houses, not the front, so you need the ngs scheme to see the gardens at their best.
2. The "no public transport in the Cotswolds" is a bit of a myth, mostly created by groups lobbying for more transport subsidies. But if you use public transport, you need to plan carefully, and you may end up falling back on Chipping Campden, Broadway and Hidcote. Though right now, getting a bus anywhere is glorious
The backbone is the Cotswold Line (www.thamestrains.co.uk Follow route information, then Hereford-London), and the connecting bus services. Or the separate London-Cheltenham line (http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/t...timetables.php)
Key sites for bus connections:
www.oxfordshirecotswolds.org/travel.asp
http://www.the-cotswolds.org/top/eng...transport.html
These two don't always give detailed times.The easiest timetable compendium is at www.carlberry.co.uk
The easiest bike solution is Country Lanes at Moreton (www.countrylanes.co.uk)I understand they hire, though the site concentrates on selling hire/accommodation packages

PS It's not clear whether you're bringing your own bike. If you are, please check with the train operator about restrictions on bikes on trains

Thank you all for the great ideas. We do keep going back and forth regarding the car rental. Convenience and flexibility vs. sanity and preserving the marriage - Such a choice! Many of the village web sites mentioned bike rentals and coach connections so it does seem possible to do it without a car but perhaps not very practical. I think that bringing our own bikes would be quite a hassle, especially on our first 11 days of the trip in London!! I can just imagine us on the tube with bags and bikes

But that makes picking a base village seem even more important. We had thought of Broadway or Chipping Campden as convenient to many places and public transportation but am worried that they will be mobbed in late June when we will be there.

Another question: we are leaving from Heathrow at 10 am in early July and rather than go back into London or stay at the airport we thought of staying in Oxford or some other charming place we could explore our last night in England. Any place that we stay would need to have frequent EARLY morning service to Heathrow. Any suggestions?

First your last night. The only way I'd recommend to get to LHR by 8am is the bus from Oxford (www.theairline.info/lhr_tt.htm)Take the 0630 for safety, though we find it normally takes about 75 mins at that time. So either stay in Oxford OR stay in Woodstock and make sure your hotel can get you a cab to Sandhills Park&Ride. 8 miles: about 15 mins that time of the morning. This is the out-of-town stop the Oxford-LHR bus makes. Just make sure the cab drops you at the stop on the Oxford to London side of the road. The bus leaves about 7 mins after it leaves central Oxford.
This site should have gazillions of suggestions for Oxford and Woodstock hotels: the next area with charm and hotels after that is really Moreton, which needs a cab to get you to LHR in time.
Broadway and Ch Ch will be crowded. But I'd suggest, only during the day, when you're touring elsewhere.Most tourist traffic in the Cotswolds in British. Remember, though: Moreton has he advantage of a direct train from London.

Have fun.

While flanneruk has shamed me at my lack of knowledge about public transport in the Cotswolds , may I suggest spending your last night in the town of Marlowe which is much closer to Heathrow than Oxford. Ye Olde Bell Inn there is reputed to be the oldest inn in England. The town is charming with a weir on the Thames.

Alternatively, Windsor is even closer to Heathrow.

Thank you FlannerUK for the good ideas. We are actually coming to the Cotswalds from York. We are 10 days in London, 2 in Durham where our daughter is doing her junior year at the University, 2 in York so that she can show us all of the anthropological insights she has learned about this year and then on to the Cotswalds for 4 days and then finally to Heathrow and back to my boring non-travel life. So, since we are coming from York, would that change your suggestion of where to stay?

Is my preconceived notion of strolling down country lanes bordered by riots of colorful sprawling front yards all a fantasy? Here in California, many people are taking out their front lawns and planting wonderful cottage style gardens that I hoped were all over in this part of England. The hint about charity open gardens is good and I will follow up.

Here are my notes on sources on choosing gardens

I agree with the well informed Flanneruk end to end. As he or she says, the National Gardens Scheme for England and Wales, includes a Garden Finder: you select by county and by date. http://www.ngs.org.uk

If you enter "Gardens" on the National Trust site you get an alphabetical list of properties with good gardens. http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/themes.htm

Selected English Heritage houses and castles with good gardens http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/d...x.asp?mkey=145

The Royal Horticultural Society. http://www.rhs.org.uk/index.asp, then garden finder, then county

bed & breakfast for garden lovers: http://www.bbgl.co.uk.

The station for the Cotswolds is Moreton in Marsh, and busses from there run in under an hour to Stow-on-the-Wold, a good place to stay as it is a centre for bus services.

You should look in the newsagents in both towns for a local weekly paper, and buy it to see whether it lists any gardens or garden parties that you would like.

The notion of strolling down country lanes bordered by riots of colourful sprawling front gardens is by no means fantasy. I can show you good front gardens in south London, and retired people in the Cotswolds have more time than we to bring out the colour.

If you use www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/gqt for Gardeners Question Time then click on Listen Again you will hear a programme that you may like.

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1. What are we talking about? Sorry to be pedantic, but it's Cotswolds. "Wold" originally means "hill". "wald", as I understand is a German word for "wood". And we don't have too many of them round here: the sheep ate them
2. Entry from England's NE. If you're driving, it makes little difference. If training, there are direct trains from York to Oxford (for bus to Woodstock, and for train to Moreton and Moreton busconnection to all the multiple-barreled towns) and from York to Cheltenham, Warning: they're run by Virgin, and their reliability is lousy. Assume they'll be late. You can change at Birmingham for Stratford or for Worcester & Evesham: but Birmingham is to our trains as ORD or ATL are to US flying, and you might be dragged out of your York-to-Cotswold bliss during the connection
3. Gardens. Well, we're not all retired in the Cotswolds, so some gardens play second fiddle to other demands on our time. And the real point of English gardens is they'eclectic. I'd recommend you see as many as possible - from cottage gardens through just plain suburbia to the mega projects of the 18th century landscapers. For what it's worth, my favourite's Rousham.
BUT: I'd not build up too many hopes about cycling, though others may have a different view. Our road network is quite small, compared to other European countries, while our population isn't, so cars are quite dense on the ground. Coltswold roads twist a lot, so I'd imagine cycling can be a tad stressful. What few guidebooks seem to tell you about is footpaths: our huge network of interconnecting ancient pedestrian rights of way. However crowded a village is, half a mile on a path gets you into what's almost a green desert. Every village sells books called something like "25 great walks round here": 4-10 mile walks which take you in a circle back to where you started. Forget about US trails: our footpaths are the product of a thousand years of local activity - almost never more than two miles from a pub. We have no poisonous insects: the only risk in just taking one - or lots - of these paths is getting wet. So bring stout shoes and something waterproof. You'll pass gardens: more importantly these paths, if you can read them, are a palimpsest on which this country's history is written. Just remember to do those stretches at hte end of the walk

Once again, thank you all for your tips. I have been buried in work for so long that I had to put trip plans (and research on hold.)

I am excited that we will be able to wonder through the CotswOlds (thanks FlannerUK for the spelling correction) and be able to see lovely gardens. We have definitely decided to use public transportation - I know it will be a bit more of a logistical hassle but we don't want to spend more time lost, especially in an auto, than need be. I am very happy to be lost on foot and also have had great times visiting with people on buses and trains.

Thank you Ben Haines, FlannerUK, and Mclaurie for your practical ideas about gardens and places to stay. Sounds like bikes aren't the best idea but the walking paths sound wonderful. I assume from your answers about bikes that one does NOT ride bikes on these footpaths? We are now planning to stay in Windsor our last night. Haven't nailed down a place in the Cotsolds yet and hope we haven't waited too long but will get back to detailed planning soon.

Meanwhile, a question for Ben Haines and others familiar with London and environs - where speciafically would you suggest going to view those south London front gardens that you mentioned? We will have 11 days in London and gardens, informal as well as the easier to research formal ones, are high on my "A" list.

Thanks again to all for the assistance.

There are good front gardens on Scylla road. just west of Nunhead Green. Take a train to Peckham Rye, cross to the stop for bus number 12, and ask the driver to drop you at Nunhead Green

I think but am not sure that there are good front gardens in Dulwich village. Take a train from London Bridge to North Dulwich, and walk 15 minutes into the village.

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Cycling on footpaths.
The law on this is complex. If everyone were grown-up about it, it wouldn't really matter, since the paths are empty all the time anyway. And 99% of the time, most people are grown-up, and bikes are perfectly legal on some paths. But there's an undercurrent of rancorous squabbling between the cycling and the walking lobbies (some militant walkers obstructed a glorious path near me recently in a way that made it impassable for bikes - which I've never seen - but also for people on crutches or with prams - who do use it). The issue might be academic anyway, since you need all-terrain bikes to use footpaths.
Why not try a day or so on a bike route recommended by Country Lanes in Moreton?

Whatever, have a great time.