We're going to be in London July 15-28 this year and want to plan several day trips--Shrewsbury, Dover/Canterbury, Oxford, Chatsworth House (near Chesterfield station), and Carlisle. I've looked at guided tours as well as booking our own train/coach travel. (We were talked out of renting a car!) I think the BritRail England pass is the way to go, but what is the consensus out there? It seems way complicated to try to book seats from the States early (and then we're locked into a day and time) and I'm not sure if I would necessarily save money by pre-booking my own tickets anyway. It seems that we could take a chance of getting last minute bargains by buying then and there, but I'm a real plan-ahead-person and that would make me nervous. So--is this pass the thing for us?--Thanks

<<< It seems that we could take a chance of getting last minute bargains by buying then and there >>>

No such thing as a last minute bargain in the UK train system as it operates just the same as airlines - book last minute, pay top dollar

However a number of your trips (Dover, Oxford) don't cost any more if you book in advance and fro somewhere like Oxford it's generally easier to take the Oxford Tube which is a bus.

If you can delay your longer trips to later in your holiday then you should be able to get some relative bargains on train tickets by buying a few days in advance

Personally I'd do the maths by doing some dummy bookings for a few WEEKdays hence and see if the convenience of a pass will outweigh the additional costs.

Also look into passes for specific areas. I seem to recall one that covers just the south east of England.

Also have a look at the train company websites as many of them have things like "4 for 2" offers which will result in reducing costs further

A day trip to Carlisle?? Even one to Chatsworth will be a loooong day. Carlisle, Chatsworth and Shrewsbury really aren't "day trip from London" type places.

Also curious why a day trip to Carlisle? It is fine as towns go - but hardly day trip from London-worthy. If you mean it as a jumping off place for Hadrian's Wall - definitely not as a day trip from the other end of the country.

If you plan on spending so much time outside of London - why not split up your two weeks and stay in London 6 or 7 days and do a driving tour for the rest?

The 8-day England consecutive pass ($297)is almost worth it. I came up with an approximate cost of $252 buying individual day return tickets.

The pass is easy. You get it validated the first time you ride and, at least 10 years ago, you just get on the train you want to get on, provided it isn't a reservation only train. We always stopped at the ticket counter to make sure there was room on the train we wanted.

You really have to do the math. Try checking out National Rail Enquiries and put in dummy dates and you can see which out best. I like the pass just for the flexibility.
I do have to ask, why Shrewsbury and Carlisle? Been to both and found them to be quite lacking in anything worth the time.

Thank you 4 above for quick responses! Reason for Carlisle--it's close to Hadrian's Wall--and we'd spend the night there (which means we'd be paying double for a room as we're booked already in London). We're considering not going there. Reason for Shrewsbury---it's silly, but we're Cadfael fans (hope you know who that is--forensic monk!).

Our priorities are Chatsworth, Dover/Canterbury, and Oxford.

We definitely have been talked out of driving.

I have and am continuing to put in dummy schedules; not sure how much info it will give me I can use, since I can't see schedules and fares out that far in advance.

I did think of looking at the consecutive pass as a cheaper alternative.

Good feedback--thanks--A

OK - we have a communications problem

the reason we jumped on you is you called those "day trips". Day trip normally means an out and back on the same day -- not an overnight stay.

You say London is already booked - is it paid for as well? Often bookings can be changed. Instead of going back and forth from London day after day - you could plan a few day's loop itinerary by train (or by car for that matter) and hit Hadrian's Wall, Chatsworth and Shrewsbury.

Traveling the length and breadth of the country to get back to London is not a very good use of time.

I did not feel jumped on at all! No problem.
Yes, the rooms are booked; the cheapest way I could find to stay where, when, and how long we wanted was to book 2 weeks in a bandb there. So even taking kinda long trips on 4 or 5 days is still going to leave us 7-8 days in London. I looked into taking coach/train group tours out of London, too, but I think we'll enjoy going at our own pace better. Therefore, the searching into the train alternatives, and thus the resultant delimmas of passes, pre-booking, etc. (I was with my daughter for 9 days in England on an EF tour, which I would highly recommend, but with my husband I think we'll want to be at our own pace more.) Thanks again.

I think a rail pass is good. Any train, any time. If you haven't booked Carlisle think about Haltwhisle, a delightful village between Carlisle and Newcastle. I stayed at a great B&B and they have a stop for the local bus in town and at the train station.

Another related question, as I have time to punch in dummy schedules and compare prices:
If I were booking my own tickets and I wanted to go London to Dover, Dover to Canterbury, Canterbury to London, spending maybe 4 hours in Dover and 2-3 in Canterbury, do I have to look at 3 trips? Since the train goes through Canterbury and I assume stops, could I book a round trip, but get off in Canterbury? To train travelers, this may sound like a stupid question (i think the answer is no) but we just don't do many trains in Texas! Return trip would be cheaper on this jaunt. thanks