Our Oxford guide!

Tomorrow, we’ll be doing a very exciting takeover on Dame Traveler’s Instagram account! We’ll be showing our favourite spots around the beautiful city of Oxford, England. So, to tie in with our little jaunt around this city, we thought we’d also do a blog post on the dreaming spires for our lovely readers!

A mini guide to a day in Oxford

1) We’d firstly recommend you rent a bike so you can zip around nice and quickly. Riding a bike is a beautiful way to see Oxford and will save you plenty of time if you want to squeeze a lot in. For our visit last weekend, we rented some bikes from Walton Street Cycles.

Claire & Laura

2) Armed with your bike (remember to ask for a basket so you can shove your bags in it) start the day nice and early to beat the crowds and head to the Radcliffe Square to view the beautiful Radcliffe Camera! This is a reading room of the famous Bodleian Library, and pretty amazing looking. Oxford students can study in the Rad Cam, although we found it too much of a goldfish bowl when we tried!

Radcliffe Camera

3) From here, walk the few steps to the Bodleian Library (also know as the “Bodley” or “Bod”). This is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It even has an underground tunnel (you can book a tour of this) that leads from the Bod to the Rad Cam. How very Harry Potter! Speaking of Harry Potter, the Duke Humfrey’s Library is the “Harry Potter” library and again can be visited on a tour! Although beautiful, from a practical studying point of view, the Duke Humfrey’s is not the best place for hard-work as you can only take a pencil and paper in. No pens, no water. We didn’t last that long!

Bodleian Library

4) Next, have a peak around some of the University’s colleges. We recommend you avoid the more obvious such as Christ Church (Harry Potter hall) and Magdalen and explore some of the smaller and more beautiful colleges such as Lincoln or the gardens of Worcester. Mini fact: there are 38 Colleges at Oxford and 6 private halls, if you’re a student at Oxford, you will belong to one of these.
Lincoln College

5) After lunch, head to the Pitt Rivers Museum and Oxford University Museum of Natural History! Take a look at the very creepy shrunken heads in the Pitt Rivers. Both are great places to go if you have children!

Pitt Rivers Museum

6) Finally, to end the day and rest your weary legs, treat yourself to some high tea at The Grand Cafe! This is said to be the site of the first coffee house in England!

The Grand Cafe

NB: If you’re looking for a real “pub” experience in the evening, head to The Turf Tavern. This tiny 13th centruy pub is usually packed full of Oxford students and sightseers and does great fish and chips 🙂

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