Oxford Overview
Oxford city is known all over the world for its university, for over 600 years its been the home to scholars and royalty. One of the best ways to learn about the city you will be living in is to see it from above, climb to the top of the Carfax Tower which is located in the city centre, from the top of the 23m tower you will see all the famous landmarks of the city. There are two main libraries located in the heart of the city; The Radcliffe Camera and the Bodleian Library, the Radcliffe Camera was built in 1737 and was built in a neo-classical style. The Radcliffe Camera was taken over by the Bodleian Library in 1860 and is now known as the ‘main room’ of the Bodleian Library boasting over 600,000 books making it the perfect place to grab a book for your studies.
One of the most famous streets in Oxford is St Giles, leading north from the city the wide boulevard has a plethora of famous buildings and attractions. The Playhouse is an independent theatre that has several productions throughout the week making it a great place to visit on your own or with friends. A piece of great architecture on this street is the Randolph Hotel, with its Victorian Gothic style it is very hard to miss, a lot of people would recognise the hotel from the hit TV series Inspector Morse. The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology is the world’s first university museum and was built in 1678-83. The museum is still open today and it has new exhibitions very frequently making it a great place to go to learn something new that you won’t learn in most museums.
Things to do in Oxford
There are several great places to do your shopping in Oxford, at the end of Queen Street you will find The Westgate which is a modern shopping complex with well over 100 shops and a great food court for you to grab a bite to eat whilst you shop. Other shopping centres include; Clarendon Centre and the Golden Cross Arcade which is positioned right next to the infamous Covered Market. At the covered market you will find over 50 traders that sell everything from food, gifts, shoes, flowers, jewellery and so much more. Just outside of the city centre you will find Bicester Village which is an outlet village boasting several high-class shops with discounted prices.
One of Oxford’s timely traditions is to take a punt down the River Cherwell, Cherwell Boathouse is Oxford’s biggest punt station with well over 80 handmade punts that are available to hire. Whilst taking a punt down the river you will pass Parsons Pleasure where famous university scholars use to sun bathe in the summer. If you carry on down the river you will reach the River Thames which is the home of the University of Oxford rowing club. There are several cinemas in the city meaning you will struggle to miss the newest blockbusters with some cinemas offering student discounts.
Sport in Oxford
Oxford has several leisure centres with swimming pools, gyms and athletics halls which will help you stay fit and healthy during your time in oxford. The Royal Regatta happens once a year and is a competition between several rowing clubs which race down the River Thames and compete for first place. Oxford City football club play at Court Place Farm with a capacity of 2500, tickets to see this team aren’t too expensive and on matchday you will find a great atmosphere.
Escape Oxford
If you head south from the city you will come across the Chilterns which is a wide range of mountains and Greenland that are perfect to escape the stress of university life and a great place to unwind. Towards the north-east of the city there is Milton Keynes which boasts a huge shopping centre as well as an indoor ski slope. The indoor ski slope is the perfect day out for you and your friends, even if you do not know how to ski or snowboard you are able to get lessons, there is also a bar and restaurant in the complex once you have worked up an appetite on the slopes.
Transport in Oxford
Oxford have a great bus service for travelling around the city, taxis are also very prominent and easy to see. Oxford is positioned very close to the M40 which can grant you access to the national motorway network. Trains and coaches run very regularly from the city to other parts of the UK.
