Can anyone help on Manchester-Bristol/Bath?

[wijit]

Good evening. I'm hoping to take Mrs wijit to Bristol or Bath for a night out (we will also have wijit junior in tow!) but the best price on tickets seems to be in the region of £90.
I say Bristol or Bath because we would visit both, and so it doesn't really matter if we are overnight in either. It is just for one night but flexibility is pretty good on our part, ideally outbound Monday 29th October- Friday 3nd November as early as possible, returning early evening the following day.
Failing the above, the same dates but for Stratford upon Avon?
It would be two adults and one child with a family railcard.

 

[kieron]

Good evening. I'm hoping to take Mrs wijit to Bristol or Bath for a night out (we will also have wijit junior in tow!) but the best price on tickets seems to be in the region of £90.

One suggestion:

Out 10:07-13:10 30/10 Manchester Piccadilly-Bristol Temple Meads
Rtn 19:00-21:59 31/10 Bristol Temple Meads-Manchester Piccadilly

Manchester Piccadilly-Wolverhampton £10.50
Wolverhampton-Cheltenham £12.10
Cheltenham-Bristol Temple Meads £9.05

Same prices on the return. Total £74.10

For an extra £4.45, you can take the 09:27 train, change at Birmingham, and get there half an hour earlier. Any earlier and you're hit hard by the peak fares. You could probably get the same prices the next day, but Mondays and Fridays are generally dearer.

 

[Old Shire]

Another suggestion

Avoid Birmingham and go the Arriva route

Frid 02/11 Manchester to Newport 07.30-10.20 £19.65
02/11 Newport to Bristol TM 10.44-11.18 £6.90

Sat 03/11 Bristol TM to Newport 17.54-18.25 £6.90
03/11 Newport to Manchester 19.04-22.15 £19.65

Total £53.10

 

[Deerfold]

Another suggestion

Avoid Birmingham and go the Arriva route

Aren't they all Arriva routes?

 

[John @ home]

Aren't they all Arriva routes?

Most of them. A route avoiding trains operated by Arriva is:

VT: Manchester - Stoke
LM: Stoke - Worcester
FGW: Worcester - Bath.