Trip Review: Coopersmith's "Summer in the Cotswolds"

"The Senior Travelers"

Selfie at Highclere Castle, 2015

Coopersmith's "Summer in the Cotswolds" (August, 2015) was a very poorly organized tour, with precious little time spent in gardens compared to time spent on an uncomfortable bus and at meals and garden teas. Based on first-hand experience, I would not recommend this tour - even at half the price.

Advertised as a 10-day tour, "Summer in the Cotswolds" was actually a 7-day, 7-night tour: Day 1, Day 2, and Day 10 were assumed to be travel days, and travel expenses (airfare, hotel and meals, and transportation until Day 3) were NOT included in the tour price - nor were tips for the guide and bus drivers, nor were some of the meals, nor was transportation to the airport (a $250 taxi ride) on Day 10, because our flight left before 1:30PM and therefore did not meet one of Coopersmith's requirements to qualify for "free transportation" to the airport.

Compared to other tours we have taken, "Summer in the Cotswolds" was seriously overpriced - more costly per day than an all-inclusive Viking river cruise and twice the price per day of a Rick Steves' (surprisingly luxurious) land tour, to name only two. We expected much, much more for our money.

The guide did not lead a single tour. She demonstrated no expertise in horticulture, nor in any other aspect of gardening; and she showed limited, if any, familiarity with the places we visited. She left us on our own most of the time, telling us where and when to meet the bus before disappearing.

The group spent an average of 30-45 minutes self-touring each garden after "welcome" remarks from a garden host. Plantings were marked in only one of ten gardens we visited during the week. If you didn't already know what you were looking at, you were not likely to learn - unless someone else in the group knew.

Most hosts offered tea and cakes after our garden "wanders," which added another 30 minutes to each brief stop.

On two of the seven days spent touring, random stops were made for the convenience of the bus driver. Once, the group was dropped off for a 40-minute "lunch stop" [too early for lunch] in a small village, while the driver took the bus to pick up his own lunch somewhere else. Another time, the group was dropped off in the pouring rain for 30 minutes in a town square when all the shops were closed, while the driver took the bus to a gas station to top off the tank for the next day's trip to the airport.

Time spent on the bus in seven days totalled more than 22 hours, mostly winding around scenic, narrow, "B" roads. The bus was a bare-bones model with no toilet facilities, no wi-fi, thinly-padded seats, limited legroom; and no headrests, footrests, armrests, or tray tables. Small hammers were mounted between most bus windows. In case of emergency, passengers were expected to use the hammers to break the windows in order to get out of the bus.

Time allocated for meals, including breakfast and dinner at the hotel, garden teas, and daily meal stops, totalled approximately 35 hours.

We did not tour any gardens that were not open to the public on charity days, and tickets to Highclere Castle did not appear to be [as our guide claimed] "as rare as gold dust," judging from the short lines to purchase them, and the less than ten-minute wait to enter the castle.

Every year, the National Garden Scheme publishes a catalog listing all gardens open to the public, including those on private estates opened only on special days to benefit charity.

For information to help plan your own garden tours in the UK, go to:

http://www.ngs.org.uk. There's even an app!  :)

Tips on Booking a Coopersmith's Garden Tour

If you are considering a Coopersmith's tour, you may want to ask for a copy of the client contract and get particulars about the tour itinerary, including meeting places, airport transportation, meals, tips, and so on, BEFORE you pay the $1,000.00 per person deposit. The $4,495.00 per person land price (double occupancy) for our "Cotswolds" tour was not all-inclusive. Make no assumptions about this tour based on past experiences with other tour operators.

At first glance, Coopersmith's "Summer in the Cotswolds" (August 15-24) looked like a perfect match to follow our Rick Steves' "Ireland" tour (August 2-15), but after signing up for both and receiving a copy of the "Cotswolds" itinerary, I realized Coopersmith's was providing absolutely nothing on Day One and Day Two - no transportation, hotel, meals, tours, or hospitality of any kind.

Why advertise August 15 as the starting date if the tour begins August 17?

Coopersmith's assumes you will require two days (Day One and Day Two) to get to the tour group's initial meeting place - no matter where in the world you live. Plan to pay all your own expenses until Day Three. And remember, the group will meet for the first time on the morning of Day Three inside one of two hotels Coopersmith's chooses. If you stay at a different hotel, you will have to get yourself - and your baggage - to one of those two hotels; the tour bus will not pick you up at any other location. (I asked.)

Coopersmith's is the only travel company I have encountered that advertises tour dates longer than the actual tours. Road Scholar, America by Rail, and Rick Steves - to name a few - advertise beginning and ending dates based on first (welcome) and last (farewell) contact with the tour guide; but not Coopersmith's.

Unfortunately, by the time I realized this, it was too late to make a change. I had already paid the $1,000.00 per person deposit, and bought non-refundable airline tickets, arranged for a house sitter and had many other date-sensitive commitments.

John and I decided we would make the best of the situation and self-tour in London for two days until the "Cotswolds" tour actually began. Rookie mistake for a seasoned traveler.

Also note that Coopersmith's assumes your flight home will depart Heathrow AFTER 1:30PM on Day Ten. If you have an earlier flight (ours at 12:30PM), be prepared to pay $250+ for a taxi ride from Corse Lawn to Heathrow, because you will not be eligible for the advertised "free" transportation to the airport. (I asked.) 

In my experience with Coopersmith's, the devil's in the details. And there are lots of them.

Learn from my mistakes.