Spanning across four counties this charming line passes through beautiful English countryside along its 86 mile route.

Journey past the dramatic Malvern Hills and through the orchards of the Vale of Evesham and Herefordshire, travelling through pretty towns and quaint villages as you go.

Take time to enjoy exploring the spa town of Great Malvern alongside the historic cathedral cities of Oxford, Worcester and Hereford.

Highlights

Scenery of the Cotswolds

Views of the Malvern Hills

Crossing the River Severn at Worcester

Find out more

Local line website

Getting there

Train/bus Car Plane

Oxford is close to the M40 motorway and Worcester to the M5. Car parking is available at most major stations along the route between Oxford and Hereford, with the exception of Worcester Foregate Street.

Regular buses serve the following stations along the line, or stop just outside, Oxford, Hanborough, Kingham, Moreton-in-Marsh, Evesham, Pershore, Worcester Foregate Street, Great Malvern, Malvern Link, Ledbury and Hereford.
Timetable information is available at www.traveline.info and county council websites.

Oxford is served by direct trains from much of the country and has two rail routes to London. Worcester has direct services from the West Midlands and from Bristol and Gloucester, while Hereford is on the North & West Line between Manchester, Crewe, Shrewsbury and South Wales.

Route

Oxford - Hereford

Cost

£25.70 Off-Peak Day Return

Opening times

7 days a week | all year

Journey time

2 hrs 10

Distance

86 miles

Time from London

0:55 hours (see itinerary)

Plan your trip

Suggested itinerary

Suggested Days Out

Immerse yourself in a regal day out at the impressive Blenheim Palace, close to Hanborough Station.

Leave the train at Moreton-in-Marsh to enjoy a day out at National Trust’s Chastleton House & Gardens, where the rules of croquet were drawn up in the 1860s.

Oxford University’s colleges and the cathedrals in Worcester and Hereford are all a short walk from the three cities’ stations and well worth a visit.

Explore the area on two wheels and ride the Cotswold Line Cycle Route, a long-distance trail forming Route 442 of the National Cycle Network. It uses quiet country roads to connect the stations along the railway between Oxford and Worcester.

A Snippet of History

The chief engineer of the route in the 1840s and 1850s was Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Although it was planned to be a broad gauge railway and built with a broad gauge track, just one broad gauge train ever used it, on a test run between Oxford and Wolverhampton. The funeral train taking Sir Winston Churchill from London to be buried at Bladon Church, near his birthplace at Blenheim Palace ran from London Waterloo to Hanborough station on the line.

Moreton-in-Marsh is the only railway station in the UK with information and direction signs written in Japanese, as it is a popular point of arrival in the area for Japanese tourists.

Extend your visit with Go Cotswolds, a minibus tour offering car-free organised day excursions, that meets you straight off the train or bus. Find out more...