The DIY option
There is no car hire desk in Charlbury itself. The nearest are in Witney, Carterton and at Oxford Airport in Kidlington, with more choice in Oxford and Banbury - so your day starts with a taxi or a train before you even have keys in hand.
In peak summer, expect a small car to cost roughly £50 to £80 for the day by the time it is booked, and that is before fuel, the insurance excess, and parking charges in every village you stop at. For two people, the all-in cost is not far off our Half Day Tour at £95 per person - except one of you spends the day staring at the road.
What the brochures don’t mention
Cotswold lanes are narrow, often single track, with stone walls where the verges should be. The locals drive them quickly - they know every bend, and they will be right behind you. If you are visiting from America, add driving on the left, a hire car you have never sat in, and junctions that appear out of hedges.
It is also genuinely easy to get lost. The villages are lovely partly because the sat nav coverage is not, and half the best places are down roads that do not look like roads.
What you get with us
Nobody in your party drives, so everybody actually looks at the view. You are not navigating, you are not parking, and you are not white-knuckled on a single track lane. You also get the local knowledge: the right stops, in the right order, at the right time of day.
And instead of a hire hatchback, you spend the day in a 1971 Series 2a Land Rover. The vehicle is half the experience - you will see people wave at you all day.
The honest verdict
If you love driving and know the roads, hire the car - genuinely. But if you are here to see the Northern Cotswolds rather than to drive them, come with us. It costs about the same for a couple, and you swap the stress for the scenery.