Great Western Coffee Shop

I am planning to take the wife and kids on a short trip to Devon and Cornwall on the last week of half term.  It is an extra holiday so although it doesn;t have to be ultra cheap, it would be nice to not have to spend too much on it. 

Both kids are under 5 so travel free, but neither me nor Mrs Tim qualify for any discounts (except perhaps a family Railcard - We will all be travelling together so I can buy  4 years and 11 month year old son a child fare if that works out cheaper for the adults)

I managed to get a family room in the St Austell travelodge for ^29 so the plan is to travel from Bath Friday 28 Oct (am, but I am happy to wait until 9 or 9:30 or whenever the off-peak starts) all the way to St Austell for afternoon on the beach.  Perhaps take the kids to the Eden project on Saturday and then come back Sunday perhaps breaking the journey at Starcross or Dawlish.

I'd prefer to aviod Voyagers and busy trains if possible (although a short hop on a voyager would be UK).  I am happy to pre-book the outbound to St Austell, but would prefer to keep the Sunday return trip flexible.  I had wondered if a ranger or rover might be useful.  We will probably use the bus from St Austell to Eden and perhaps Charlestown or Carlyon Bay and I note that some Rovers and rangers cover bus fares as well.  The only rover that would cover the whole trip is the Freedom of the SouthWest rover but that is ^70 adult.  The Devon Ranger looks cheap at ^8.50 and would get us from Plymouth to Tiverton and would allow us some flexibility round about Dawlish/Starcross.   


I'm happy to have a play myself with splitting fares, but any suggestions of where might be a good place to do it would be greatfully received.  Also, what is the with using a combination of a Rover and a normal ticket.  Does the train have to stop the the station where you change from one ticket to another? 

Thanks

Anything which involves paying a token amount for the Under 5s might be worth it because you will then get four seat reservations, which with any luck will be round a table on an HST if you book early enough.  Reduces the stress levels if you are not spread out around the coach.

For flexibility the Off Peak Return for 2 adults and 1 child from Bath Spa to St Austell is probably your best bet. This is priced at ^89.10 with a Family & Friends Railcard. The undiscounted price for Off Peak Returns for 2 adults would be ^118.00. With the railcard you save ^28.90. A Family & Friends Railcard costs ^28.00, so this one trip alone sees the railcard pay for itself. You will only get 3 seat reservations if you book this Off Peak Return in advance. One more seat for the other child and the price rises to ^100.30 for 2 adults 2 children with the railcard.

With the 2 adults and 1 child Off Peak Returns you can catch the 0857 from Bath Spa direct to St Austell, this is an FGW HST arriving 1216.

On your return on Sunday, if you want to avoid CrossCountry Voyagers, you can travel via Westbury. Example journey being the 1605 FGW HST from St Austell arriving Westbury 1913. Then the 1937 from Westbury to Bath Spa, arriving 2007. There are earlier and later options via Westbury.

For less flexibility but greater savings with the railcard you can buy Advance Purchase tickets in both directions. On the 0857 Fri Oct 28th from Bath the price with railcard is currently ^34.00 for 2 adults 2 children. On the 1535 Sun 30th Oct (via Westbury arrive Bath 1947) the price is ^28.90. That's a total of ^62.90 with seats for all. Other options at different times and prices are available.

If you want booking engines to avoid offering up journeys involving CrossCountry then use a WebTIS based booking engine (redspottedhanky.com (http://www.redspottedhanky.com/) is my recommendation) and tick the box 'First Great Western Trains Only' under the 'Select a Route' option on the journey selection page.


Note: Advance Purchase prices correct as at 1901 22nd Sept 2011.

Sorry to bring it up, but if do you want the cheapest option, ^53.90 return for 2 adults & kids go free Bath - St Austell by National Express coaches (route 404) is probably going to take some beating....

Mind you, I'd personally take the hit and always go by train even without two young children in tow. Just thought I'd mention it though.

Thanks everyone,  This is really useful.  It hadn;t dawned on me the advantage of buying one or two child fares would be extra seats.  On a busy train (it is half term holiday) that is prefereable to having them sitting on our knees for over 3 hours.

Is it legal and proper to buy a ticket online with a friends and family railcard today, and then only buy the railcard itself next week when I get a change to go to the station?

I don't know if it is legal to buy the tickets in advance of the railcard but it is certainly possible.  In practice the ticket is only going to be checked once you make the journey - so if you have the railcard at that point I cannot see a problem.

Thanks everyone.  Tickets Booked.  I've saved myself 90p, gained an extra seat and gained a railcard (which will be useful soon when son starts needing to buy tickets) so much appreciated.

Nope, the train doesn't need to stop with a normal ticket plus a Rover as the Rover is considered a "leisure travel pass" as per NRCOC 19 quoted below.

However, with the one day Ranger tickets (ie the Devon ranger) it's less clear. The Devon Ranger could be considered a Season ticket as it allows multiple journeys to be taken on the same route using the same ticket.

With the Ride Cornwall ticket things are more clear cut as it's a ticket scheme run by Cornwall Council and there is specificity excluded from the definition of a season ticket.

Thus, you could go for a off-peak return between Bath and Tiverton Parkway and then a 3-in-7 Freedom of Devon and Cornwall from Tiverton to St. Austall and travel on the 08:57 direct service from Bath to St. Austall which doesn't call at Tiverton. The cost of this would be around ^115ish (no Family Railcard discounts on Rovers so 2 adult tickets @ ^40 each plus ^35ish for an off-peak return BTH-TVP 2A 1C) but you would have the flexibility on the Sunday, plus unlimited travel in Devon and Cornwall across all three days.

Cheers,
TLM


Edit: I see just posted while I was writing my reply! I'll leave it on here for anyone else who's thinking of doing something similar in future.