First let me thank you for help. I lived in a small village in the 1970's, named Horley near Banbury. I would love to go back to see how it has changed. We will arrive in London. What is the best way to travel there. I would like to limit renting a car and use public transportation. While in that area we would like to See Stratford on Avon, Blenheim Palace, and Warwick Castle while in the area.
The other area I would like to visit is the Liverpool area. My ancestors are there.

Anything else we can do while in those areas, I am interested in hearing your thoughts.
We loved our time in England and would love to see it again. We were there for the Queen's Silver Jubilee. What a wonderful experience.

Thanks

First of all - You really will need a car. Not for Liverpool, but definitely for this Oxfordshire/Warwickshire jaunt. How many days do you have for this area? Banbury has become a beee-atch to drive through so I would try to avoid it. Of course the M40 didn't exist back when you lived there so things have changed quite a bit.

I'd probably stay somewhere in the northern Cotswolds for a few nights and use it for a base to tour around. Maybe in Shipston-on-Stour or possibly Chipping Campden. A few nearby places to visit relatively nearby would include Hidcote Manor Garden, the Rollright stones, Snowshill, Warwick and Stratford-upon-Avon. Even Blenheim is only 20-ish mile from Shipston-on-Stour.

thank you. Is it possible to take a train from London to the Cotswolds? And then rent a car from there?

You can take a train from
london to several towns in the Cotswolds but it would be faster to just drive from LHR. It’s quite easy nowadays with GPS. Also can you drive a stick? You will have far fewer choices of cars away from Heathrow.

The best options for this would be to 1) take public transport from London out to Heathrow and rent a car there - or - 2) take the train from London to Warwick and rent a car there. Heathrow has all the majors and Warwick has Enterprise.

I assume you are not planning on heading to the Cotswolds straight of the flight? You shouldn't drive after a long haul flight.
Sadly Horley only has one bus a week so a car is essential to visit there.

Lovely area though.

I hope it isn't too much of a shock when you go back. Wantage, in South Oxfordshire, which is the town where we lived in the 70s and early 80s has changed almost beyond recognition.

Yes you will need a car for the Cotswolds, well unless you decide to do a walking tour of the area (which is a lovely way to get about) in which case you might do better using train, taxi and the odd bus. But public transport in the are is poor. https://www.traveline.info/ is a good source of local info.

https://thehorleyviews.com/horley-village/ Horley is a bit in the middle of nowhere. Banbury does have a railway station.

I'm not sure that I agree that you must have a car for this. You haven't mentioned visiting the Cotswolds at all, albeit that some of the places are quite close. If what you want to do is go to Horley, Blenheim, Stratford, Warwick and Liverpool then you could do that by train. If you do want to add some time in the Cotswolds then a car would be better.

For Blenheim Palace you could take a train from London to Oxford, or take the bus straight from Heathrow. Then Blenheim is a shortish bus ride away.

From there a short train hop to Banbury, from where Horley is a short taxi ride away. You might need to pre arrange a taxi from Banbury station, I don't know.

From there you can take a train to Stratford with one change and then a 30 minute train hop to Warwick.

Finally to get to Liverpool it's a train to Birmingham Moor St and a short walk to Birmingham New St for a Liverpool train.

From there you can fly back from nearby Manchester airport or a direct train back to London.

Could also take the bus from LHR to Reading and train to Banbury from there.
I guess it depends on how long OP wants to spend in Horley whether a taxi makes sense or not.

No the OP did not mention the Cotswolds. However for where she wants to visit (Horley) the northern Cotswolds would be the most convenient place to stay, Staying in Banbury would be a non starter for me. Chipping Campden is 19 miles away, and Shipston-on-Stour barely 10 miles (that is probably where I'd stay) . Horley is close the Warwickshire/Oxfordshire border so staying in the northern Oxon Cotswolds or southern Warks makes the most sense. Trying to do this by public transport would be a fools journey. Yes - there are trains between places like London and Oxford and Banbury and Stratford. But the OP also asked "Anything else we can do while in those areas" which I read to be wanting to explore their old stomping grounds. Can't really traipse around this area without driving.

I lived for 5 years 20-ish miles from there and did about half of my weekly shop in Banbury (the rest in Bicester) and had our car serviced bi-monthly in Warwick so know the area very well . IF one was just wanting to see Banbury and Stratford and Warwick -- no car needed. But to explore anywhere else at all - rent a car.

I agree that if you are flying into lHR from overseas that driving that day would not be wise.
if your arrival is in the morning or during the day you could check into a hotel near your arrival terminal than take the Picadilly or Elizabeth line downtown and spend time in the city. Spend night in LHR than pick up your car in the morning.

It goes without saying that driving on arrival day is a terrible idea. If that was the plan we need a discussion about the issues. However traveling up from London after a day or two for recovery driving is the best option

I would highly recommend visiting Chester if you are going to be near Liverpool.
Its a beautiful quaint City with so much sightseeing.

Just learned of a hop-on/hop-off bus for the Cotswolds from May 3-Sep. 28. https://www.cotswoldvintagebushire.com/services/
Plus, there's the Robin bookable bus: https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/transport/the-robin/

Wow -- that H-o-H-o bus is a terrific idea. Even includes the Farmer's Dog and Minster Lovell. Not very useful for this OP's needs but for those wanting to do a day trip car-less it would be great. Looks like weekends only - four times a day so easy to coordinate with trains at Moreton-in-Marsh.


(both links are for the same service)

Oh, thanks, Janis! THe Robin bus is...
https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/transport/the-robin/

Public bus, the 801 service:

https://busandtrainuser.com/2024/06/...the-cotswolds/

https://www.pulhams.co.uk/busservice...es/service801/

Thank you so much for all your help. We are trying to narrow down our itinerary. We will be coming in the fall. We would leave the states on a Thursday arrive in the UK on Friday. Stay in London hotel Friday night and Saturday night tour Buckingham Palace possibly see a musical And hopefully see the tower of London at night for their 930 show.
We are planning on getting up Sunday morning, taking the train out towards the Cotswold we are leaning towards hiring a driver for the day or two and think we will see more. If not, we would rent a car. We are considering leaving the Cotswolds on Tuesday and going to Liverpool. We would like to spend Wednesday Thursday and Friday in Liverpool. Saturday we fly back to the states so we would either stay at Liverpool Friday night or go back to London and then leave for Heathrow. How does that sound for timing? I was reading Denise a and she raved about Liverpool. We have been to London several times and wanted to do more of the countryside. While in the Cotswolds, I am still hoping to be able to go to Horley and see the village where we lived 48 years ago as far as where to stay when we are in London, we are thinking of the covenant garden area any Hilton hotels you would recommend there or anywhere on our trip. As always, thank you for your help.

When in the Fall? Buckingham Palace closes for the season on Sept 28. What 9:30 'show' are you visiting at the Tower? The Ceremony of the Keys is at 9:30 - but tickets are very difficult to get. Is Horley still in the mix?

If it was my trip I'd organize things a bit differently. Upon arriving at LHR I'd fly directly up to MAN and take a train or express coach from the airport to Liverpool. Do your Liverpool days at the front end. Then I'd either take the train or drive from Liverpool to somewhere like Warwick (in the case trains or driving will take about the same time - if you took the train then you rent a car in Warwick) and stay in Shipston-on-Stour or maybe Chipping Campden as a base for Horley and the Cotswolds.

Then either: 1) drive to LHR and drop the car and take public transport into the city, or 2) drop the car in Warwick or Oxford and take the train to London. Finish up will all your London nights together at the end. Since arrival day is pretty much shot anyway because of jet lag and 'stuff' I'd use that time to travel to the farthest point from London and work my way back to the city.

London at the end makes complete sense