London to Clare
 

I have a group of 10 traveling from the states to attend a wedding in Clare in (Suffolk County?)England. They are flying into London then need transport to Clare?

Any help is appreciated.

With a group that size, it would make sense to hire a small bus and go direct, rather than try to cope with changing between different modes of public transport. Is it possible to fly into Stansted (that's much nearer than Heathrow, while Gatwick is 30+ miles even further away)? It looks as though there are no longer flights between Amsterdam and Cambridge, which might otherwise have got you closest.

I'm no expert on group travel or hiring buses, though...

Clare is a very small (and very pretty) village in the county of Suffolk. Needless to say it has no train service. I agree with Patrick that a small bus would be by far the best bet, otherwise you would need at least 2 cars. If this isn't feasible then trains to Cambridge or Bury St Edmunds, and then car hire or taxi (expensive) to Clare.

Definitely Stansted is the most suitable airport, and the suggestion of hiring a bus (or even taxis) would be suitable.

If you have to fly into another London airport, the nearest train station to Clare is Sudbury, but this is a rather poorly-served local line. It's almost certainly easier to head for Cambridge or Colchester, both on mainline rail routes, and arrange transport from there.

A third option, depending on where you're coming from, is flying to Norwich, train to Stowmarket and on by road from there.

KLM does fly into Norwich from Amsterdam (that's what I was thinking of) - it might be worth looking at changing planes in Amsterdam to fly to Stansted or Norwich.

Thanks for all the info. Unfortunately we have already purchased air to gatwick in london. How do I get from Gatwick to Clare?

Any help is really appreciated.

I did some digging on the www.nationalrail.co.uk site. Here's the best route I could find. Take a First Capital Connect train from Gatwick to Farringdon Station. Take either the Bakerloo or Hammersmith & City tube line to London Liverpool Street. Take a One Railway train to Sudbury Suffolk Station (one change at Marks Tey). Sorry, I don't know what to suggest, other than a taxi, to get from Sudbury to Clare.

I did a little more digging. This time I went to www.autoeurope.com. A three-day rental on a five-passenger Opel Vectra wagon would cost $134.43 USD. A four-day rental would cost $179.24 USD. A five, six, or seven-day rental (weekly rate) would cost $253.39 USD. Of course you would need to rent two cars. Vehicles big enough to hold all ten people were available, but the cost was horrendous.

TimS' route is the most practical one to get to Sudbury, or indeed Colchester, by train. Don't be tempted by the Stansted Express - for the transfer involved, Farringdon is quicker and involves less walking.

Another option for a station near to Clare is Braintree, which is served by hourly direct trains from Liverpool Street, making it slightly more convenient than Sudbury, if slightly further from Clare.


The alternative to get to Cambridge is a train from Gatwick to Kings Cross Thameslink, a short walk to Kings Cross mainline station, train to Cambridge (total of about two hours), road transport from there.


I took a brief look at bus services to Clare from any of these places, but forget it - they're too infrequent to make it a suitable option, and probably wouldn't save you much compared to taxis anyway.


All in all, I'd strongly recommend renting two cars, either from Gatwick or from one of the places mentioned. As you're no doubt realising, getting around East Anglia without your own transport can be a bit of a hassle, and it would be a shame for people to be restricted as to what they can do during their visit because of this. TimS' prices, working out at $50/person are probably going to be competitive against any other option.

"Don't be tempted by the Stansted Express"...I mean Gatwick Express, of course...

One more thing. If you decide to rent cars, book from home ASAP for the best rate. You'll pay quite a bit more if you wait until you arrive at Gatwick.

A search in Yellow Pages (www.yell.com) for "coach hire" in Sudbury (Suffolk) produces seven companies offering various sizes of coaches/minibuses. It might be worth asking them for quotes to meet you at Gatwick. Organising two cars for two or more jet-lagged people to drive 70+ miles on the "wrong" side of the road to end up at their most tired and confused in country lanes doesn't sound like my idea of a trip to a happy event.

I wanted to post the same suggestion that Patrick did;however, I couldn't remember the names of any coach companies in that area.

This IMO is your best option. Reasons given.