I am planning to fly into Heathrow, rent a car to drive around the Cotswolds for 4-5 days, then return the car and fly to Menorca to visit friends. I am wondering where it makes sense to rent (and return) the car. It looks like I can get a flight to Menorca from either Gatwick or Bristol, so it would make sense to rent and return the car to one of these two destinations I think, instead of out of Heathrow. If I were to pick up the car in Bristol (this is the closest to Cotswolds?), how would you recommend I get from Heathrow to wherever the rental car place is? I am looking for the easiest, most direct way, not necessarily the cheapest. Is there a direct train between Heathrow and Bristol? If there is a switch, I would prefer to cab to the direct train station if it is feasible, as we will be coming off a long flight and want to avoid hassle. Thanks so much for your help!!

There is not a direct train from LHR to anywhere except for London.

The easiest by far would be to pick up a car at LHR and drop it a Bristol. However - are you flying in long haul/transatlantic? If so, immediately jumping in a car isn't usually a very good idea. You could spend the first night in Windsor to get over the jetlag. (or even in London) and then head to the Cotswolds the second day.

I'm with janisj: it's foolish to drive after an overnight flight, especially if you're not used to driving on the proper side of the road or in seriously congested traffic. It's also legally dangerous: if involved in an accident you're more likely to get prosecuted, and more likely to face a charge carrying imprisonment.

Now the easy stuff:
- getting to Bristol airport from the western Cotswolds is easier than getting to Gatwick. But from the northern Cotswolds, it's pretty 50/50, the road to Gatwick's better and you're likely to get better choice and cheaper flights from Gatwick. Birmingham (BHX) is also handier than Bristol (ands also has a wider choice) from Burford, Chipping Campden etc.

- Depending how pedantic you are about the definition of "Cotswold", from LHR you can:
- get a direct bus to Oxford (VERY fast and frequent) or Bath (less so)
- get a train from London Paddington or Reading to Bath, Cheltenham, Charlbury, Kingham or Moreton in Marsh. You get to those trains from Heathrow either by bus to Reading (which I find a bit messy with cumbersome bags) or by Heathrow Connect train (which I find the more painless: it's a short, flat, train to train connection). I can't imagine you'd get much change out of £100 for a taxi to Reading, and you'd save ten minutes or so

- In my view the least-hassle thing for you to do is to get the bus (every half hour or slightly more frequent at peak times) from LHR to Oxford. Either stay the night there or get a taxi 8 miles to Woodstock, which has a village feel. Collect a car from Hertz Kidlington (four miles by taxi from either central Oxford or Woodstock) and drop it at the airport of your choice. Hertz Kidlington means you start your driving in a lightly trafficked out of town motor park: you don't encounter the greater challenges of urban driving till you get to your first town.

DO NOT delude yourself that driving round here is some kind of rustic idyll compared to New York. We drive faster than they do in New York, and suffer fools less gladly. And nothing in New York equips you for Oxford's kamikaze cyclists.