Walking Tour of Oxford , UK

 

Most visitors arrive by train or bus to the center of town.  Tourist Information is near the bus station and a good place to begin.  Get a map and check out any performances of the day at the Holywell, first purpose-built music room, or the Sheldonian Theater or any of the 35 colleges clustered around the town center but often hidden behind high walls with low, unmarked doors.  Recently, however, colleges have begun to charge a fee for entrance, although the hours are still somewhat restricted.

 

There is so much to see in every direction that I will suggest a general walking tour that hits the most important sights and sites.  Start at Gloucester Green which is no longer green but a large paved space also adjacent to the bus station and transformed into a market on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  Walk through Gloucester Green to the left and turn left on Gloucester Street to Beaumont Street .  You will pass The Oxford Playhouse.  Turn right and you will pass other playhouses. The Ashmolean Museum is on the corner of St. Giles Street .  It is the first purpose-built museum and great for a rainy day.  Cross the street and turn left to St. John’s College which is open to the public from 1-5 and, hopefully, still free.  Walk straight through to the lovely gardens—a loop path. (If it is too early to enter St. John’s , this tour will return you here later.) Return to St. Giles Street and turn left to Broad Street and left again on Broad Street .  Bailol College can be seen behind its iron wall on the left.  Blackwells is a famous, old book store which has expanded to a music store and print shop on the opposite side of the street.  The Sheldonian Theater with its surrounding heads is a Christopher Wren building—but not very comfortable for sitting!

 

Continue straight ahead on Holywell Street to a tiny, original, cobblestone street on your right.  Look for a sign to the Bath Place Hotel and take that path past the OLD hotel to the Turf Pub which is also very old.  Stop for a pint or wander through the pub to New College Lane .  Look right at the Bridge of Sighs but walk left, past the House of Haley (Comet) to New College .  If you go inside New College , you will see some of the original city walls in its beautiful gardens.  Also look for the cloisters and the chapel.

 

Continuing on New College Lane , notice the small, amusing heads at the top of the building on your left.  You will come to High Street and turn left to Magdalen College on the left.  This college has an extensive loop walk called Addison ’s Way that is covered with daffodils in the spring.  It is also possible to rent a boat just past the entrance to Magdalen College and punt—push with a long pole—not as easy as it looks, but very “Oxford.”

 

The Botanic Gardens are just across High Street. The roses in front are free!  Cross High Street carefully and walk right, back toward town.  Turn left on Merton Street which is also an original cobblestone street passing Merton College , reputed to be the first of the Oxford colleges.  Look for a little path to the left which will take you to Christ Church Meadow.  Christ Church will be on your right but there is a lovely, long loop path along the Cherwell River .  Return to Christ Church and go to Aldates Street , passing the Museum of Oxford and the Town Hall which you can enter.  Up the stairs is an impressive room and sometimes concerts there.

 

You are now back to High Street.  Cross it and continue on Cornmarket, a pedestrian street, to Market Street .  Turn right and look right for the Covered Market that has been there forever--now very upscale but fun, and good snacks.  Return to Market Street and continue to your right.  Cross Turl Street and continue on Brasenose Lane .  It will bring you to Radcliffe Camera, the original Bodleian Library.  If the weather is good, turn right, then left and enter St. Mary’s Church from the back--the site of the first Oxford classes--and climb the tower for a fee and a good view. There is also a good cafeteria.  Return to the Radcliffe Camera and walk past it, through the first purpose-built university buildings that are still labeled in Latin.  There is a gift shop to the left but most of the buildings in this old square are not open to the public.  This brings you back to The Sheldonian Theater and Broad Street .

 

Cross Broad Street and continue straight ahead on Parks Road .  You will pass the University Museum on your right and the Pitt Rivers Museum inside and to the left of the dinosaurs which is chock-a-block with fascinating, imperial collectibles.  Continuing on Parks Road will bring you to University Parks, another lovely, loop garden path. When Parks Road merges with the Banbury Road , turn left and look for the Old Parsonage Hotel on the right if you are ready for tea.  You will pass St. John’s College again if the time is better for an afternoon garden walk.  The Eagle and the Child, locally known as the Bird and the Babe, is the pub where Tolkien and C.S. Lewis met regularly, if you are ready for more than tea. 

 

You have come full circle back to Beaumont Street .  Turn right and left on Gloucester Street to return  to Gloucester Green.  Check the bus schedule to Bleinheim Palace for another full day exploring the birth place of Churchill and the charming town of Woodstock .  Remember that Oxford is also a good starting point for the charming Cotswold Villages and Cotswold Wildlife Park and Gardens open from April to October, in Burford.

 

Call Nancy Traer at 1-510-225-5015 or email ntraer@comcast.net. 

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