By Ferne Arfin
United Kingdom Travel Expert, about.com
A new unlimited Cotswold travel pass that integrates local bus and train transportation makes touring one of England's most beautiful and popular regions an easy and genuinely eco-friendly option.
[post_ads_2]
The Cotswolds Discoverer Pass,
a cooperative effort between the region's official tourism
organization, several bus companies and local rail services, offers
car-free touring freedom at money saving prices. It's almost as easy as
those "hop on hop off" tourist buses that are so popular in cities
around the world.
Lots to Discover
The Cotswolds,
the largest designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England
and Wales, stretches across six counties (Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire
and parts of Wiltshire, Somerset, Worcester and Warwickshire). It
includes:
- lovely villages of tile-roofed or thatched cottages built of characteristic golden Cotswold stone
- miles of rural countryside with open access trails for walking
- popular destination towns such as Stratford-upon-Avon and Oxford
- dozens of heritage attractions, gardens, wildlife parks, castles and stately homes including Warwick Castle and Blenheim Palace.
- several stops on a tour of Downton Abbey locations.
It's an ideal area for leisurely touring, with plenty of tea shops, lovely inns and hotels, gourmet restaurants, picturesque pubs
and a Michelin-starred eatery or two. The problem for most visitors has
been that you usually need to drive or be driven if you want to see a
lot of the region in a few days.
Green and Independent
The new Cotswolds Discoverer Pass launched at the end of March 2014, is a better approach for visitors who want to avoid spending a fortune on fuel at British prices,
driving on the left on unfamiliar roads or giving up their own freedom
to explore by joining a coach party. Besides, by encouraging the use of
local public transportation, it's by far the greenest way - unless you
walk or cycle - to get around the region at your own pace and following
your own interests.
How it Works
You have to make your own way to:
- one of the train stations in the program served by First Great Western, Arriva Trains Wales or Cross Country Trains Gloucester
- or to one of the towns served by the participating bus companies - Cotswold Green, Johnsons Excelbus, Pulham's Coaches, Swanbrook, Stagecoach in Oxfordshire and Go Ride CIC.
From those
starting points, you can travel as much as you like - within the
duration of your pass - between the various companies without any
additional payments.
Complete information and a map of the towns and villages included in the pass can be found on the Escape to the Cotswold's website. And to make your life even easier, the website has a selection of itineraries - with bus route numbers and train station names included - to get you started.
Passes are available as
one-day (£10 adult, £5 child) or three-day (£25 adult, £12.50 child)
versions with extra discounts for Rail Card holders. From March 28 2014,
they can be purchased at any mainline rail station in the UK or on
buses run by the participating operators listed above.
A Few Provisos
- The passes can't be used on trains before 8:50am - so no really early starts.
- Although they are valid seven days a week, services on weekends and bank holidays may be less frequent and some services may not run at all.
- These are rural services, for the most part, so you should not expect a bus or a train to come along every few minutes, as they might in the city and suburbs. Make sure you pick up bus and train schedules where you buy your pass and along the route and keep them with you. Otherwise, you could find yourself stranded after the last bus has left or spend so much time waiting for buses that you don't get to see everything you'd hoped.
