Oxford, City of Dreaming Spires and one of the UK’s top tourist destinations. It’s also just stuffed with Oxford-abelia, all at vastly inflated prices. So how to get a real flavour of the city, and of  what it’s like to live and study here? Don’t even think about doing it by car: the best way to see this beautiful university town is on foot.

 

The centre of Oxford is quite small – easy enough to do on foot. But if you try to visit all of the thirty colleges or so, you’ll get seriously architectured out, foot sore and grumpy. Best stick to just a few and slot in some relaxation time as well. Allow a full day for this tour, if you want to take a boat out on the river. If not, you could do it all in half a day at a quick canter.

 

Oxford is a collegiate university. That is students belong to individual colleges, which is the centre of their life here. The college is where they live and have meals and tutorials. The university is a federation of these colleges and is responsible for lectures and setting exams.  The oldest colleges date back to the 12th Century and have the feel of the monastic buildings they once were. Colleges have continued to be founded to the present day and there are some fine modern buildings further out from the centre of town.

 

A few tips before you start.   The university buildings are working places of study and where people live. Don’t just walk into a room because you think everywhere is open to the public: it’s really not nice to have strangers suddenly wandering into your study-bedroom when you're cutting your toe nails.   Students are required to wear academic dress, or “sub fusc” for sitting exams: a dark suit for men, black trousers or skirt for women, a white shirt, academic gown and mortar board. Sub fusc is also worn at the graduation ceremony but the chances are that if you see someone dressed like this, they are a wee bit stressed about how little revision they’ve done, and may not want to pose with you to have their photo taken.  It’s OK though and much appreciated if you wish them “Good Luck”.   Colleges have opening hours and closing hours – please observe the Closed to Visitors signs.

For the purposes of this tour, we shall concentrate on a few colleges clustered round the city centre.

 

Take the bus

 

If you have left your car outside the city at one of the many Park and Rides get on a bus and ask for Carfax.  Carfax is the central cross roads in the middle of Oxford, where there is pretty Carfax church, where you can go up the tower for your first view of the university. A low level view this – good if you suffer from vertigo. For a higher level view, wait a while and go to St Mary’s Church a little further down the High Street and included in the loop of this walking tour.

 

 

 

Carfax is the central cross roads. From here there are 4 streets. Two shopping streets – come back later for all your retail therapy – and two “university streets” The High Street and St Aldates.

 

 

For your first college, head down St Aldates to Christ Church College, known in Oxford as “The House”. Christ Church is vast – the biggest college by far, and is considered by students from other colleges as a bit self important. The gate house is dominated by Tom Tower.

 

The bells! The bells!

 

The problem with Oxford’s Dreaming Spires is that every one has a bell in it. For locals, the bell in Tom Tower is by far the most irritating – every evening it tolls one stroke for every student in the college – some three hundred or so. 

 

Beadles about Christ Church is policed by "Beadles" – the only admin job in the country where your bicep measurements are taken into account. Recognisable by their black bowler hats, they also prowl round the Exam Schools when students are taking their exams to squash any post exam exuberance. Beadles have Squashing Exuberance in their blood, so don’t take it personally if the ones at the entrance to Christ Church are not overwhelming friendly – they can’t help it, poor things.

Walk into the main quad, with its pool at the centre – incidentally, it is traditional at Christ Church to give “freshers” (that is first year students) a ritual dunking in this pond during their first term – and over to the far right corner to the college chapel, which is also Oxford Cathedral (It gives you an idea just how big and self important Christ Church is). Oxford Cathedral is not that special as cathedrals go, but you may as well take a look in passing. Once you have “done" the cathedral go back to the main quad and keeping Tom Tower to your left, walk away from the cathedral to the other corner of the quad, which leads into a much smaller quad, to some metal gates, giving onto Merton Street.

 

Cobbled Merton Street is as charming and quaint as you get in Oxford and is home to two of the smallest colleges, both on your right as you walk down Merton Street: Corpus Christi (just called “Corpus” by students) and Merton, which squabbles with Balliol  and University College (“Univ”) for the title of “Oldest College”. Neither takes long to look round.

 

From here, carry on down Merton Street until you reach the High Street (“The High”). By now you may be needing a drink, so stop off in The Eastgate Hotel.

 

From here you are going to wander down to the picturesque rural end of Oxford, so you may want to make an afternoon of it and take a picnic. Just opposite the Eastgate is a small parade of shops, where you can buy sandwiches, chocolate and drinks.

 

 

Once stocked up, head down The High leaving the Eastgate behind you on your right. The next college you come to, on the left is Magdalen (pronounced “Mawd-lin”) Another large college but very different from Christ Church, with soft gentle architecture, peaceful cloisters surrounding the ancient chapel and beautiful riverside gardens. Oh, and it also has its own deer park. In spring, the riverside meadows are simply bursting with wild daffodils and fritillaries. Quite simply lovely.

 

 

Oxford Ragwort  The Botanic Gardens have one other notable claim to fame: they are the origins of “Oxford” Ragwort. Ragwort, you may remember is that yellow flower that pops up on every bit of waste ground in July and August. What gets people so exercised about ragwort is that it monumentally toxic to sheep, cattle and horses. In a field the animals can spot it but not in a bale of hay.  Anyway, this is where the nasty plant was developed. It escaped and its seed was carried around the country in the slip stream of  the at-the-time new fangled invention – the steam train.

Once you have had your fill of Magdalen’s beauties, you have a choice: pop across the road, for a quick look road the University Botanic Gardens. In a beautiful spot in a elbow of the River Cherwell (pronounced "Char- well") 

 

 

Or you could go punting. Under Magdalen Bridge, keep to the left and go down the slip way, you can hire all sorts of river craft. Rowing boats, canoes and of course punts. Punting isn’t hard but there is a knack, so before you try, read our companion article How to Punt.

 

This is the time for your picnic. Float down the river, eat your goodies and keep your wine cool in traditional Oxford manner by hanging it over the side so it chills in the river (Just remember to keep hold of the bottle!) Also remember if you head downstream from Magdalen Bridge, as most people do, that it takes longer to punt back upstream.

 

Toeing the Line There have always been close links between Magdalen and St Hilda's. Traditionally on May Day, everyone gets up at crack of dawn to hear Magdalen College choir sing sweet tunes from the top of the tower to welcome in the spring. All ,that is, except the women from St Hilda's who traditionally lie in bed with a length of string wrapped around their big toes with the other end dangling in the river. The men from Magdalen are supposed to punt down a give the string a bit of a tug to get the women out of bed.

On your way down stream you will pass St Hilda’s College, one of the former women’s colleges and the very last to go mixed – in 2008; Magdalen College School’s cricket grounds, surely the most picturesque in the country; and the Botanic gardens. It takes ½ hr – ¾ hr to reach The Thames (or “Isis” as it is called – but ONLY in Oxford) If you have hired a punt, this is the point to turn round and head back. The Isis is much much deeper than the Cherwell and if you are an inexpert punter you will have problems when your pole doesn’t reach the bottom. If you are in a rowing boat, turn left to get a view of the University boat houses and right to see Christchurch Meadow, where cattle still graze as they did in medieval times.

 

Once you have returned your punt, retrace your steps back up the High, keeping to the Magdalen side of the road, you will pass Queens College, easily recognisable by the fat buxom queen on her pedestal over the entrance and All Souls – The College with lots of twidlly bits. All Souls is the crème de la crème of Oxford Academia. It does not have any undergraduates. Students graduating with a First (i.e. the top marks) in their final exams are invited to sit the entrance exam for this top notch ivory tower, Most fail.

 

Now for the last bit of the tour – Radcliffe Square, with St Mary’s Church hiding it from the High Street. St Mary’s Tower - not for the vertigo sufferer – offers amazing views of the city you now know quite well. If this isn’t for you, wander through Radcliffe Square, admiring the Radcliffe Camera (“Camera” the old word meaning “chamber” or “room” and nothing to do with Snappy Snaps) the round building in the centre of the square, and part of the Bodleian Library; Brasenose College – on the left; and the world famous main Bodleian library and the Sheldonian Theatre, where graduation ceremonies are held at the far end.

 

Nice Knocker Brasenose College(pronounced as it looks "Braze-nose") gets its rather stange name from the brass knocker in the shape of a face (or brasen nose) on its front gate. The knocker is still there today

This will take you out onto Broad Street (“The Broad”) opposite Blackwell’s Bookshop. By now you will probably be desperate for refreshment. Blackwell’s itself has an instore coffee shop or if you turn left and head along The Broad, there are other cafes a little further along. Frankly, they are all pretty scuzzy but by this stage you may not care. If you do care, head right along to the far end of the Broad, leaving Radcliffe Square to your left, to the five star Randolph Hotel. Tea at The Randolph is an Oxford institution and should be experienced at least once.

 

From the Randolph (or the end of The Broad, if you’re not feeling posh enough for The Randolph) turn left up Cornmarket, which will take you back to Carfax and buses.