Oxford is best known as the setting for the oldest English-speaking university in the world, and as home to an impressive guest list of literary greats, plus striking gothic and baroque landmarks made famous in the Harry Potter films.
But, although nicknamed the city of dreaming spires, there’s so much more to this clever community on the River Thames than honey-coloured heritage and academia. Scratch beneath its historic golden limestone surface and you’ll find a clutch of underrated world-class museums, cobbled streets lined with independent shops, a thriving local dining scene, and several high-end places to stay.
Where To Stay
The Store
‘Untraditionally British’ is the motto of Oxford’s latest five-star hotel. With 101 rooms, it holds its own within two grand art deco buildings once home to the historic, 1798-opened, Boswell’s department store. It features a playful design that reflects its heritage dotted with Boswell memorabilia alongside playful motifs like graphic statement prints.
The lobby also doubles up as a buzzy co-working space, and classic, neutrally decorated rooms feel plush with wood panelling, statement features like burnt orange velvet headboards, oversized parquet flooring and sleek bathrooms with brass fittings and rain showers. Views over the city’s rooftops are epic from the fifth-floor bar and a trip to the walnut-panelled basement spa is a must. Treatments are fuelled by Oskia products and there’s a private sauna and steam room, too.
Where To Eat & Drink
Pompette
Every neighbourhood needs a Pompette, a convivial French restaurant that’s as good for a celebration meal as it is a casual mid-week catch up. Its décor of darkened walls, burgundy banquettes and colourful artwork combines to make you feel like you’re in Paris, when really you’re in Summertown, a cute residential area on the fringes of central Oxford. Generous portions of classic French fare fill a simple menu, like poussin and roast chicken. Thursday is steak frites night which draws a big crowd here to indulge in perfectly medium-rare onglet steak served with a handful of fresh watercress, a side of French fries, and a glass of juicy red for just £25. Honestly, you could visit for the delectable homemade baguettes alone. Baked fresh each day, golden and crisp outside, white and fluffy inside, and served with salted French butter.
Treadwell
Hotel restaurants the world over are upping their game to attract local crowds and not just visitors, including Treadwell at The Store. Marble-topped tables drenched in natural light from above fill an otherwise darkened dining room hung with plants and kitted out with green velvet banquettes, parquet floors and black leather chairs. Sculptural light fittings and hand-painted illustrations on white walls by artist Samme Snow fit the hotel’s trademark ‘untraditionally British’ ethos. Ingredients sourced from the local Oxfordshire countryside fill a menu of fusion dishes. Think: prawn cocktail tacos with heirloom corn tortilla, crayfish salad with Asian greens, mango, chilli and lime, and fish and chips with spiced peas and curry sauce. The drinks list includes a few Oxford-themed cocktails and a good selection of global wines.
Ashmolean Rooftop Restaurant
Admire the city’s dreaming spires in their full glory from this airy restaurant, part of the Benugo portfolio, from the fourth floor of Oxford’s most lauded museum. Floor-to-ceiling windows flank an entire wall which open onto a plant-filled terrace overlooking the city’s famous Randolph Hotel and distant green spaces. It’s open each day for lunch and afternoon tea with traditional and light dishes on offer like pea and broad bean risotto and chargrilled lemon and thyme chicken. Get going with an aperitif or turn afternoon tea into a celebration with a glass of Hundred Hills Oxford rose.
Things To Do
Take A Walking Tour
For an excellent potted history and to get your bearings quickly, you can’t beat Oxford Official Walking Tours. In just a couple of hours, you’ll learn of the city’s intriguing past, what Oxford University life is really like and get a glimpse of the city’s big hitters: the Radcliffe Camera, the striking Bodleian Library and some of the most famous colleges (from the outside), like Christ Church College which is the main draw; it educated 13 of Britain’s prime ministers and has featured in both The Golden Compass (2007) and the Harry Potter films. If you’re keen to see inside one, All Souls, Brasenose and Exeter allow visitors at certain times.
Shop Like A Local
Locals still shop for fresh produce, flowers, bread and cakes at Oxford’s Covered Market, open since 1774. The Covered Arts gallery’s Oxford-themed artwork is a highlight. Come 5pm, bring the food you’ve bought to eat with a glass of wine at the Market Cellar Door, a bar specialising in natural tipples. Elsewhere, it’s easy to lose yourself for hours browsing the shelves at the original Blackwell’s Bookshop on Broad Street. It’s been trading here since 1879, is spread across three levels and includes a rare books section on the top floor.
Don’t miss Oxford University’s museums
“Ashmolean Museum, Oxford” by Steve Elliott, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Take your time over Oxford University’s excellent museums, some of the most underrated in the country. The world-class Ashmolean, Britain’s oldest public museum, is an anthropological and ethnographic treasure trove founded in 1683, where you’ll find a real mummified body from a tomb in Egypt and gold posy rings inscribed with sentimental messages, among other things. These are said to have inspired former Oxford student J.R.R Tolkien’s One Ring in The Lord of the Rings. Further curiosities are found at the vast Victorian-era Pitt Rivers accessed through the Museum of Natural History and organised according to each object’s function.
Take a punt
Other than a walking tour, another excellent way to explore the city – especially come summer – is on a punt around Oxford’s tranquil canals and rivers. Head to Oxford Boating underneath Magdalen Bridge where you can rent a punt, a wooden raft or book ahead for a chauffeured trip.
For information visit the Experience Oxfordshire website.
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