Wiltshire Travel Forum

We'd be keen to go to the Proms at Lacock Abbey in July, but does anyone know if it is possible to get there from Central London (and back) by public transport? We'd be happy to stay overnight closer to the venue if there are likely to be shuttle buses to and from the concert.
Thanks in advance for any ideas.

You need to take a First Great Western train from Paddington to Swindon and change there for a stopping train to Melksham. In Melksham you need to take a 234 Chippenham - Frome bus which passes through Melksham.
The bus timetable is at http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/southwest/somerset/timetables/timetable.php?day=1&source_id=2&service=234&routeid=1093094

Sorry Evamore, but I am afraid that doing this journey by public transport will be fraught with difficulties.

Getting there is no problem - take a train from London Paddington to Chippenham then take bus 234 from there down to Lacock (do NOT go to Melksham - there are very few trains to that station).

However, getting back will be difficult. The event's website says that the concert starts at 8pm and finishes at 10.45pm. which is only 10 minutes before the last train to London departs from Chippenham (assuming that the trains are running to their normal timetable). Worse still, the last bus from Lacock to Chippenham is at about 9.50pm and there is no guarantee that that would be able to run through the village as the event sometimes causes the roads through Lacock to get congested. Taxis would be difficult to get that evening (there is no taxi rank in Lacock) and if you arranged for one to come down from Chippenham to pick you up, how would you identify which one was yours after the concert !

It is clear from the website that they expect people to come to the event by car (I believe that they let people park on the surrounding fields) so although it grieves me to say it, if you really want to go to the Proms, you might want to consider hiring a car or paying alot of money to stop overnight in Lacock itself !