The Cotswold or somewhere else?

[tulak]

It looks like I’m going to have an extra couple of weeks after my visit to France for some solo travel. The first week I’m thinking about spending in Belgium (Ghent/Bruges) and maybe Lille/Calais France, before taking the Eurostar to London.

My schedule is wide open right now and I’m looking at places to visit in England that aren’t too far from London.

My rough plan right now is about 8-9 nights in England. The last couple of nights will be in London. I’m thinking of 2-3 nights around Windsor before heading into London. Before that I have nothing planned. The Cotswold looks interesting and I was thinking of staying in that area for 2-3 nights. I know we have a few people on the forum from the UK, so I’m hoping that I can get some recommendations/advice.

I don’t have many requirements, but it would be nice to be in a central location that is easily accessible by public transportation (no car) and the ability to go for shorter hikes up to medium difficulty. A good selection of restaurants/pubs is also good.

So far I’ve been looking at the northern part of the Cotswold, taking the train to Moreton-in-Marsh and a bus to a smaller village.

I’m open to other recommendations too. Just looking for nice scenery and a place to relax (with some work) before heading back to the US.

Anyone have any ideas to share?

Thanks in advance!

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

It's been many years, but I remember the Cotswolds certainly having a lot of beautiful scenery! We attended a falconry demo and brought back some small raptor-related art. Chester is a nice historic walled Roman city, I don't know if that fits your definition of "scenery" but I found it beautiful to walk around. Cardiff is a big city, but has a beautiful bay and is about 2 hours from London by train.

 

[Scrapr]

We were in the Cotswalds at Christmas time (last year). We staye in Cirencester. We trained from Bath. Due to some train difficulties we had to taxi from Swindon into Cirencester. Might have been a strike, or just a cancelled train. We took an all day tour around several towns. Just walked around each town for a bit & heard some history, I liked Stroud....but it's pretty small. Cirencester for a couple days was fine. We did our laundry there so if you need a hookup....(LOL) I thought Broadway was pretty touristy. But it was pretty. If you are going to do it on your own I'd suggest a car rental.

For us this was all last minute as we were supposed to be in Paris but France closed the border the day before we were to arrive.

 

[ivinsfan]

I didn't see a time frame I've always heard good things about the Bath area . I wonder if you'll have trouble finding places to stay country side England can be a hard get in summer and fall.

 

[Souschef]

If you would like to go a little far afield, Cornish Welcome Tours is excellent. We traveled all over with our host John, across some byways that a tour bus could never go.
Thay are rated 5 stars on Trip Advisor. I have attached a copy of our tour.