A day trip to the Cotswolds from London by train and bus

You can see Bourton-on-the-Water, both Slaughters and Stow-on-the-Wold in a day from London without a car. Take an early train from Paddington to Moreton-in-Marsh, about an hour and a half, and Pulhams' 801 bus from outside the station to Bourton-on-the-Water, walk the 6-mile loop by Upper Slaughter and Lower Slaughter, and ride the bus up to Stow-on-the-Wold in the afternoon. You are back at Moreton for an evening train, and the whole day costs two train fares and a few capped bus fares.

The times on this page are from GWR's timetable for 17 May to 12 December 2026 and Pulhams' 801 timetable from 3 May 2026. Timetables change in spring and in December, so treat the minutes as the pattern and check the day's timetable before you travel.

Why this day works without a car

Moreton has a bus every day of the week from outside the station, and the 801 joins the three places most people come to see. The Slaughters have little or no parking and no timed bus, so they are a walk for everyone, and the footpaths from Bourton reach them in under an hour. Doing the walk in the morning puts you in the Slaughters before the afternoon visitors and in Bourton for lunch, when it is at its fullest, which is the right time to be leaving it.

The order matters for a second reason. The buses from Moreton run at about 45 minutes past the hour until mid-afternoon on weekdays and Saturdays, and the buses back run at about 15 minutes past the hour from Bourton and 33 minutes past from Stow. Going out to the far end first and working back towards the station means you always have a later bus in hand.

How the trains and buses fit together

On weekdays the first train from Paddington, at 5.53am, reaches Moreton at 7.26am, in time for the 8am 801 if you want Bourton almost to yourself (the first weekday bus leaves the station at 6.30am). On Saturdays the first train is a minute earlier, due at 7.21am, and the 8am is the first bus of the day. The plan above uses the 6.52am, which is due at 8.21am and leaves time for a coffee before the 8.45am bus.

The 801 takes about 20 minutes from Moreton station to Stow and about half an hour to Bourton. Going back, it leaves Bourton's Edinburgh Wool Shop stop at 15 minutes past the hour from 9.15am to 5.15pm every day, with more at 5.45pm, 6.15pm, 7.15pm and 8.15pm from Monday to Saturday and 9.15pm on weekdays, and reaches Stow 18 minutes later and the station 30 minutes later. Single fares on local buses are capped by the government, so each ride costs no more than the national cap. Since July 2026 Pulhams has used tap on, tap off: touch a contactless card or phone on the reader at the front and again at the exit. The driver still sells paper tickets for returns, child, group and weekly fares. Our page on buses in the Cotswolds has the whole timetable, and getting to the Cotswolds has the trains.

The walk to the Slaughters

The loop starts on Rissington Road by Birdland, a few minutes from the bus stops, and takes two to two and a half hours at an easy pace. It goes west on bridleways, climbs a quiet lane to Upper Slaughter, where the ford and the church are, then follows the River Eye down through the fields to Lower Slaughter's mill and back over the fields to Bourton. There are a few stiles and a muddy stretch or two, so wear boots between October and April. If six miles is too far, walk from Bourton to Lower Slaughter and back on the field path, about 3 miles in all, and add the 2-mile there-and-back from Lower to Upper Slaughter along the river if you have the legs for it.

The Sunday version

Sunday works, with an earlier finish. The first Sunday train leaves Paddington at 7.36am and reaches Moreton at 9.20am, in time for the 9.45am bus, which is in Stow at about 10.05am and Bourton by about 10.20am. Walk the loop from 10.30am, eat at the Willow from 1pm, and take the 2.15pm bus up to Stow.

The difference is the bus home. The last Sunday bus to the station leaves Bourton at 5.15pm and Stow Library at 5.33pm, reaching the station at 5.45pm. The later Sunday buses from Bourton, at 6.15pm and 7.15pm, end at the Pulhams depot and do not go on to Stow or the station. Trains to Paddington run roughly hourly on Sunday evenings, the last at about 9.45pm, so supper can be in Moreton instead of Stow. The Old Bakery Tearoom is closed on Sundays, and the Porch House serves food from midday to 7pm.

Swaps for rain or a quieter day

In heavy rain, cut the walk to the field path from Bourton to Lower Slaughter and back, and give the late morning to Birdland, where the penguins are fed at 3pm and last entry is 3pm (it closes at 4pm), with 20 per cent off on a same-day bus or train ticket. Stow's church is a dry half hour.

For a quieter day, swap Bourton for Stow at the start. Stay on the 801 to Stow, walk the stile-free loop by Maugersbury, 3.75 miles with kissing gates instead of stiles, and go down to Bourton in the late afternoon, when the day visitors are leaving. The buses back are the same ones either way, running from Bourton through Stow to the station, so ending in Bourton costs you only a longer ride.

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The honest limits

This is a corner of the Cotswolds, not the whole of it. You will not reach Bibury, Chipping Campden or Broadway on this day without a long wait for a less frequent bus, and on a Sunday the buses to those places do not run at all. You will walk about 6 miles, more if you add Stow's loop, on field paths that are muddy for half the year.

The other limit is the train. Advance fares are cheapest but tie you to one train, and if the 801 runs late the connection at Moreton can be tight, so book a train an hour after the bus you plan to catch, or buy an off-peak return that lets you take any train after the morning peak. If you can stay a night, stay in Moreton, Stow or Bourton, and see the villages before 9am and after 6pm, when they are quietest. Our car-free itinerary stretches this day into three, and day trips from London has four more worked days from other stations.