Day Trips From Chipping Campden

[artnbarb]

I make sure to have my maps and guidebooks with me when traveling around the Cotswolds, so I can look up details of the places we end up. You don't need to have detailed itineraries for here - there is so much to do, you can decide each morning what you feel like.

I wish I was as organized with you for booking flights and accommodations. We are always scrambling at the last minute to book things lately.

I just re-read this thread and now I feel like a weight has been lifted! I'm going to make a list of the places and towns we want to see, try to get an idea of what places are just cute to drive through or to, but not necessarily worth a stop - or does every little village just demand a walk-through?

Also, regarding being organized so early: it does have it's downside. Having made our flight reservations and the majority of our room reservations soooo long ago I don't remember the details, so I have to refresh my memory and see where I need to fill in the gaps! Thanks to the urging of this forum I did book our FCO-LGW flight, and it's more than I wanted to pay but the times work best for us and on vacation your time IS like money, so I'm okay with that.

I just booked our car rental for England, and booked the EasyBus for our LGW to London Waterloo. The car rental, which I was waiting to go DOWN, started to go up - and up1 I had no reference for the cost, just a general thought that prices would go down - as they have in previous years. Not this year, apparently, altho I will continue to check with Auto Europe from time to time. The bus tickets were so cheap - less that $10 for the 2 of us, so I decided to take a chance. None of our options for getting into London seems great - the trains mean changing while hauling luggage, and you never know if there will be stairs.......

So, I'm pretty sure I have everything important booked, I just need to remember!

 

[Pauline]

We do village drive-thrus. Yesterday we were up in north-western Gloucestershire to see the wild daffodils and walked through Kempley but on the way home just did a drive-thru of Newent.

But, many of the Cotswold villages deserve a good look on foot. Instead of driving through three, pick one and spend an hour or two exploring. After awhile all the villages and market towns start to look the same - so you are better off picking a few to get to know well.

Car rental prices are a mystery to me. I just booked one for southern Italy and was happy with the price, until I saw that they will add on 16% for picking up at the airport, then more for a second driver. All those extras add up.

I write a detailed itinerary for a trip and update it as I get things booked. That said, I am the one who booked a B&B for the wrong day for our arrival night in France, so we arrived to a closed B&B. And who forgot to complete a car rental booking for pickup at Heathrow in July so after waiting over an hour in line, found out that we had no reservation. That was one expensive car rental!

 

[artnbarb]

I've got so much on my plate right now and think I'm going to book an evening show....off to check the schedule.....

 

[artnbarb]

Gifford's Circus is booked for a Tuesday at 5:00. And the Royal Oak Society is back on my radar - but no need to buy it until June - or do they mail it? Guess I need to check their website!

 

[artnbarb]

There are many National Trust sites within 20 miles of Chipping Camden. I'd suggest buying a dual membership in the Royal Oak Society, the U.S. affiliate of the National Trust, which provides admission to all NT sites for two for $95 (less than the $110.52 cost for a joint membership directly in the NT at today's exchange rate). With the Royal Oak membership, you start to save money when you visit 4 or more NT sites. More important, having the membership encouraged us to visit more sites without having to consider any additional impact on our budget.

As Pauline notes, most NT sites have pleasant cafeteria-style restaurants serving sandwiches, soups, a few hot entrees and wonderful cakes for afternoon tea.

During a week in the Cotswolds we visited Chastleton House (8.7 miles from CC), Charlecote (12.8 mi.), Lodge Park (16.8 mi.), Croome (16.9 mi.) and Chedwirth Roman Villa (17.0 mi.) We would have liked to have visited Hidcote (2.8 mi.) and Snowshill Manor (4.6 mi.), but these NT gardens were not yet open for the season when we visited in mid-March. The Royal Oak membership also got us 50% off the cost of admission to the Leighton House in London (not owned by the NT)......

I'm planning to buy a membership to the ROS in June, since the membership activates during the month in which it's bought, hoping perhaps I'll get back to England before the year is up! Anyway, I've looked at their online brochure listing all the properties, but I really wish they'd included a map - that would have been so much more helpful to me. Are there any favorite National Trust properties that are missing from the above list?

 

[Larry H]

Royal Oak Society will mail your membership cards first class, but the National Trust parking pass is bound into the NT handbook which will be mailed, along with Royal Oak and NT magazines, at the (slower) magazine rate. Many NT sites do not charge for parking, but ROS and NT members park free at those which do. The handbook consists of brief descriptions, and often a photo, of each NT property and includes maps. At any NT site you can pick up a regional guide which has the same descriptions for sites in that area.

The ROS office responded quickly to email a replacement card when my wife lost hers. The owner of our vacation rental kindly printed it out for us.

 

[artnbarb]

so I guess I'd better order ASAP! We leave June 25, and our mailed will be re-routed, and therefore delayed, once we close on the house! thanks for the heads-up!