Here is a good website to read to get your bearings and consider options.

http://www.cotswolds-calling.com/

I also happened to find this 4 year old thread "Is Cotswolds doable in one day"
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...amp;tid=693563

It has some interesting info in it but may be somewhat out of date in terms of the transport options.

You guys are great! You have given us so much to think about. Genny at Tourgems. I will definitely check her out. Can she fit 4 women in 1 car? As far as luggage goes, we'll store our luggage at the London hotel and basically takes daypacks with clean underwear and toothbrushes. Driving from London is not an option, either is from the airport. You think its a better idea to take a bus to Moreton on Marsh? Can we rent a car there? What is the price difference between bus and train? Last question (for now). If we did use Genny, could she find us somewhere (with single beds) to spend the nite? Thats all for now, thanks in advance. Whoever answers, is a real sport, since they will have to read 20 responses before you get to this.

There is some car hire available at Moreton, though you may find yourself charged more, have fewer options, or not be able to get/use FF schemes as easily as at Oxford.

The only options for getting to Moreton from London are train (www.thamestrains.com), driving, biking or walking. There are a few local buses, but none go further than places like Oxford.

There is no "main attraction" in the Cotswolds. The drive from Oxford through Woodstock to Moreton is reasonably pretty: Woodstock itself, though technically outside the Cotswolds, is as close to being a "main attraction" as anywhere else.

The normal (turn up and buy from the machine at the station on the day) price of a return ticket on the train is £26. It's frankly unlikely you'll find more than a fractional saving by buying any other way, or by sitting on the Web for weeks trying for deals.

I checked into bus service and it took much longer than the train so I scrapped it. Train ticket can be had from Paddington to Moreton return for 26gbp total (not each way) and takes only abou 1 1/2 hours each way. You can look at schedules and prices at www.thetrainline.com. Genny has a van that could easily carry 4 ladies and their luggage you described. It was a very easy trip last time, I jumped on a early morning train to Moreton, toured 2 days with Genny and returned late evening train to London.

My son and I drove in Scotland and vowed never again. It was horribly stressful for us. You might be ok with it as others are but it just wasn't an option for me, especially for 2 days. Genny's prices certainly compared favorably against renting a car for just the 2 days.

Look at www.smoothhound.com for hotels and B&Bs in Stow on the Wold, and other Cotswolds towns. You could ask Genny about where to stay, I' m sure she has some ideas. I have just asways picked my own. I really liked Stow. It was easy to walk around in, had lots of shops, and good restaurants. Easy without a car in the evening.

I can tell you my exact agenda of my last trip: lst day start about 9:30, tour Stratford upon Avon and Warwick castel and Warwick, a few shops and sightseeing in between, 2nd day Sudeley castle, Burton on the Water, Slaughters upper and lower, Broadway and Chipping Campden. We did a great cream tea in Chipping Campden I think. Genny knew just where to go. I love both of the castles and the towns were beautiful. The thatch roofed houses and sheep were so perfect. I loved the area and am so excited to go back.

If you think of anything else, let me know.

PS: The £26 fare is available on the 0600, 0948 and all subsequent departures, and on all weekend trains. A higher fare applies if you take the 0748.

ttt for the ladies.

gg

ggnga, Seems like I have hijacked Nats original post! I think Genny may be a perfect answer for us. We meet Friday for a "meeting". I plan on looking at the train and hotel website before then, and if it looks as good as you make it sound, I'm sure thats how we'll see the Cotswolds. Thanks. Question for Flanneruk, you mention Woodstock. I don't think I have heard of it before seeing what you wrote. Is this near Blenheim Palace? Thank you for reading ALL the way down to see my questions and respond so knowledgably.

yes - Blenheim Palace is in Woodstock

topping for Wandering Texan

Thanks again taggie! I had not seen this post.

I must say that Hambleton Hall www.hambletonhall.com despite the weak USD was one of the most remarkable places on earth in July: especially for a first time visitor to the UK.
M

Hambleton Hall? Oh my G-d, I think my head may explode, we have so many things to see and do and try to fit into 9 measly days! I am going to look up that web site. Thank you for all the help you have given. We had our "meeting" today and heres what we are doing (for now, anyway). We are going to take the train to Oxford because we think we'll have more choices on getting a good price on a car rental. We may drive thru the historic Campus part, or not, as time allows. We don't care about Oxford, but we do want to see Blenheim Palace and thats the way to get there. We'll then concentrate on the towns from Burford to Broadway in the day and 1 half we have left. What ever we see we will enjoy, I'm sure. We want to walk the upper and lower Slaughter and just hang out and window shop, meander on the lanes and find cute little places to sit and have tea. I feel good about this and whenever I plan trips on Fodors I gather info (usually conflicting) from all of you and cobble a trip together with whatever sounds like It'll work for us. I have yet to regret 1 minute of any of my travels to Europe. We all have different interests, physical capabitities and even maturity levels, but we all LOVE travel, so I know even when the advice isn't right for me, its sincere and thoughtful. Thanks.

"We may drive thru the historic Campus part"

Bad, BAD idea. Even few residents drive in the center of Oxford. They mostly use the park and ride lots on the outskirts (one is on the way to Woodstock) and take buses into the town center. driving and parking in Oxford city centre is difficult even when you know it well.

You can't really see any of the colleges from a car -- well you could see the outer walls of some but you really need to see Oxford on foot.

if you don't plan on walking around just drop the idea of seeing anything in Oxford and head straight out to Woodstock/Blenheim.

(I really don't know where you got the idea you would get a cheaper car rental in Oxford - not trying to talk you out of the idea, just don't choose to do it that way because you are expecting lower rates. In fact when you add in the cost of the train tickets you will be paying quite a bit more to rent a car from Oxford instead of from London or LHR)

zwho:

Mikemo is winding you up. Hambleton Hall is a nice hotel in pretty scenery on the other side of England from where you're planning to be. Might be worth remembering if at some point in the future you're in Leicestershire, or if you want a sybaritic weekend away from London. But, apart from a drive into Stamford, a day out sab-teasing with the Quorn, or a quest for an authentic Melton Mowbray pie, virtually nothing to see or do.

Janis:

We're all getting confused. Zwho is picking up on a suggestion of mine that car rental from Oxford is likely to be better value etc than rental from Moreton. Apparently driving from LHR "isn't an option"

I hope Janis and Flanneruk see this (or anyone feeling qualified to answer). The reason we don't want to drive from London or LHR is because 1.We only have 1 driver whos driven in Cayman Islands (same as UK) but has never been to Europe. We just drive slower on our highways, I've noticed. We don't want to stress her out. 2. None of us have excellent map reading skills,and don't know how easy or hard it is to find our way. Can one or both of you tell me how tough it would be to drive from the city or the airport? You obviously don't think its a big deal, but you know where you're going and are probably familiar with the system there. As always, thanks in advance.

OK -I get it now - Duh

Yes, a car will probably be cheaper from Oxford than from Moreton.

As for how hard it is to drive from LHR as opposed to for Oxford.

I personally think the drive from LHR is really easy because it is motorway all the way to Oxford. Starting out on the motorway allows you to get used to the car and controls w/o having to watch for crossing traffic, side roads, town center traffic, trying to decipher the map, etc. By the time you get to Oxford and have to go onto the minor roads to get to Woodstock you will be much more used to what is going on. And you do not have to drive really fast on the Motorway - as long as you stay in the far left (slow) lane you can happily travel at 55 or 60 mph.

But if you REALLY can't imagine driving out from LHR - renting in Oxford would also make sense.

Hi Janis, So they have a slow lane, thats good. Thanks for letting me know about it and also your comments on getting used to the car. I'm going to forward this to our driver and see what she thinks. You do have some good points. We have rented cars in Spain and Poland and (well my husband drove) but I think thats where the term defensive driving came from. Good to know there is a little ole lady lane in England! I really appreciate your input. Feel free to post if theres anything you know that you think will benefit our trip.

Hi, remember me? I'm the one who started this post. All of you have great ideas but let me ask all of you-is Oxford really worth it. I mean I know that it is a beautiful university town but do you think we should go there instead of Bath or Stratford or anywhere else near the Cotswolds??

natjgc:

No-one can tell you if Oxford or Baden-Baden or Poggibonsi is "worth it" since only you know what you like and you're different from the other 6 billion of us.

But I've long been puzzled about the mass appeal of Oxford, and think I've never seen a smiling tourist in the city.

Oxford is built on its prime industry - knowledge - and in particular on its best-known institution, whose buildings are many and often stunning, and completely dominate most of the town. Apart from the University of Oxford, virtually all other buildings - including the other educational establishments - are mediocre, and the town's shopping is third-rate and unpleasant (the area with shops is very congested, though with people rather than cars).

The problem with the University though, is that mass tourism doesn't fit well with beautiful, medieval academic communities. Put a tour party into its smaller colleges, like Pembroke or Corpus Christi, and they overwhelm the place, and really get up the noses of the hundreds of people who live in them. Do understand, BTW, that the University of Oxford does not have a campus (though the worthy, but unglamorous Oxford Brookes University has a couple in the suburbs). Most ivy-clad universities' campuses are modelled not on the University, but on its 30-odd constituent colleges.

To which access is severely - and rightly - restricted. And from the outside, the colleges can be quite gloomy or forbidding.

There are a few atmospheric streets (like Merton Street), one spectacular square (Radcliffe Square, and it's even better if you can get into the public bits of the adjacent Bodleian Library) and one, very untypical, college (Christ Church) which is built to a scale that isn't overwhelmed by hordes of gawping coach parties. From the top of the double-decker Hop On/Off buses you can see over the walls of some colleges and realise what you're missing from the outside. It does have excellent museums and lots of good bookshops (though virtually all of them have branches everywhere else in Britain). And there are a few other pleasures like the river.

Don't get me wrong. It's a nice place. Lots of people come onto this board praising it. And, IMHO, it's infinitely nicer to visit than the vile theme park that Stratford's turned into.

But show me a smiling face.

Incidentally, if you hire a car at Oxford, you needn't waste time debating all this. Hire your car, dump the luggage in it, walk the 10 mins into town from the station, see if you agree with me then walk back and drive off to the villages.

Get a map, downloaded from the Web if necessary, aim for Broad St, then Radcliffe Sq, walk through the square into High St, go east a bit on the High, right into Logic Lane, right again into Merton St, left into Merton Grove, right into Christ Church Meadow, emerge into St Aldates, right up to Carfax then left and back to the station. Round trip: one hour.

Then tell us what you think

I don't offer quite the gloomy description that flanneruk does. But Oxford is not a city you can see or appreciate from a tour bus, or in just an hour on foot. Walking tours offered by the TIC are very good and get the small groups inside one or two of the colleges. I love Oxford - but if you are only going to spare an hour or 2 there I'd skip it all together.

As for whether "we should go there instead of Bath or Stratford or anywhere else near the Cotswolds??" -- ladies, in the very short time you have set aside for your trip to the Cotswolds you will NOT have time to see either Bath or Stratford (or Warwick - which IMHO would be better than Stratford if you did have time)

A few hours at Blenheim/Woodstock and about 1.5 days for driving around the Cotswolds will only give you a teensy sampling of the area. Forget about detouring up to Stratford or down to Bath.