Oxfordshire

Henley-on-Thames

Henley is home to the famous Henley Royal Regatta (29 Jun-3 Jul 2005). At other times of the year you can learn about the regatta's history at the River & Rowing Museum.

Practical Information

Henley-on-Thames Tourist Information Centre

King's Arms Barn

Kings Road, Henley-on-Thames

Tel (01491) 578 034

Open Mon-Sat 10am-5pm

Coming & Going

Henley on Thames is accessible by hourly train services from London (Paddington Station). Bus X39 runs hourly between Henley and Oxford.

Sights

River & Rowing Museum

This museum features exhibits about the history of rowing and the world famous Henley Regatta. There are also galleries devoted to Kenneth Grahame's Wind in the Willows that use models and audio-visual displays to bring alive the world of Badger, Mole, Toad and Ratty.

Mill Meadows, Henley on Thames

Tel (01491) 415 600

Website www.rrm.co.uk

Admission £3 (£2.50 students); including­ entrance to the Wind & the Willows galleries £6 (£5 students)

Open Jan-Apr 10am-5pm daily; May-Aug 10am-5.30pm daily; Sep-Dec 10am-5pm daily

Oxford

Oxford is famous for its university, which is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious. The university is divided into 39 colleges and between them it has educated five kings, 25 British prime ministers, 40 Nobel Prize winners and many notable writers including CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien and Oscar Wilde. It is a bustling city with a youthful vibe that isn't dampened by the throngs of tourists that pass through town each day.

Practical Information

Oxford Tourist Information Centre

15-16 Broad Street, Oxford

Tel (01865) 252200

Website www.visitoxford.org

Open Mon-Sat 9.30am-5pm, Sun 10am-3.30pm

Coming & Going

BUS

Several bus companies operate frequent services between London and Oxford. These include National Express, the Oxford Bus Company, the Oxford Tube and Megabus (website www.megabus.co.uk). The competition between bus companies makes Oxford one of the cheapest excursions from London.

Megabus (website www.megabus.com) has several express buses a day to London with prices between £1 and £3 (plus 50p booking fee). Megabus departs from the Oxpens Coach Park on Oxpens Road next to the Ice Rink (which is accessible by walking up Queen Street from the city centre) and outside The Taylorian at St Giles, which is round the corner from the Ashmolean Museum and across the road from the Randolph Hotel. Their London terminus is outside the Allsop Arms near the corner of Gloucester Place and Marylebone Road (N Baker Street, Marylebone Train Marylebone).

The Oxford Espress (tel (01865) 785 400; website www.oxfordbus.co.uk) links London (Victoria Coach Station) with Oxford (Gloucester Green) daytime departures are every 20 minutes. This bus costs £9 one-way (£7 students); £11 day/next day return (£8 students); £13 three-month return (£10 students). A day/next day return costs £7 (£5 students) if you buy your ticket after 3pm. The Oxford Bus Company also runs the X70 bus between Oxford and Heathrow Airport and the X80 between Oxford and Gatwick Airport.

The Oxford Tube (website www.stagecoach-oxford.co.uk/oxfordtube/) has very frequent bus services linking Oxford with London. Oxford Tube fares are £9 one-way, £11 day return and £13 return. They stop at several locations in Oxford including High Street and St Clement's and their London terminus is on Buckingham Palace Road (NTrain Victoria) with stops on Bayswater Road (tube Notting Hill Gate) and on Park Lane near Marble Arch (tube Marble Arch).

TRAIN

First Great Western Link (website www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/link/home/index.php) has frequent trains linking Oxford with London (Paddington) and Stratford-upon-Avon. Virgin Trains (website www.virgintrains.co.uk) connect Oxford with Birmingham, Brighton, Bournemouth, Northern England and Scotland.

The train station is conveniently located at the western edge of the city next the YHA hostel and just a short walk from the backpackers' hostel.

Local Transport

The Oxford Bus Company (website www.oxfordbus.co.uk) and Stagecoach (website www.stagecoachbus.co.uk) both operate local bus services in Oxford. Competition between the two bus operators keeps prices low and services competitive although you cannot use one company's pass on the other's buses.

Accommodation

Central Backpackers

13 Park End Street, Oxford OX1 1HH

Tel (01865) 242288

Oxford Backpackers

9a Hythe Bridge Street, Oxford

Bus Oxford Bus 2A, 2B, 4, 4A, 4B, 4C, 5, 10C, 10D, 400; Stagecoach 10, 10A, 11, 20, 44, 63, 66, X5, X31

Tel (01865) 721 761

Oxford YHA

2A Botley Road, Oxford

Bus Oxford Bus 2A, 2B, 4, 4A, 4B, 4C, 5, 10C, 10D, 400; Stagecoach 10, 10A, 11, 20, 44, 63, 66, X5, X31

Tel (01865) 727 182

Sights

Ashmolean Museum

Open in 1683, the Ashmolean Museum is regarded as Britain's finest museum outside London. It's treasures include sketches by Michelangelo and paintings by Da Vinci, Manet, Monet, Matisse and Van Gogh.

Beaumont Street, Oxford

Tel (01865) 278 000

Admission free

Open Tue-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 2pm-5pm

Bodleian Library

One of Europe's oldest libraries has been an important part of Oxford University since 1488. One-hour tours of the medieval library include a visit to the 17th century Convocation House and Court, which was the seat of parliament during the Civil War.

Catte Street, Oxford

Tel (01865) 277 224

Website www.bodley.ox.ac.uk

Tours cost £4

Open Mon-Fri 9am-4.45pm, Sat 9am-12.30pm

Carfax Tower

Great views over Oxford reward those who climb the 99 steps to the tower of the 14th-century Church of St Martin.

Carfax, Oxford

Tel (01865) 792 653

Admission £1.40

Open 10am-5pm daily

Christ Church College

The largest of Oxford's colleges was founded by Henry VIII and built by Cardinal Wolsey. Thirteen British prime ministers were educated here and it was also the college that inspired Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Highlights of the college include Oxford's cathedral with its vaulted 15th-century ceiling; the Great Tudor Dining Hall where Charles I held his parliament and Elizabeth I watched a play; the famous Tom Tower, built by Sir Christopher Wren and the Great Quadrangle, Oxford's largest.

St Aldgates, Oxford

Bus Oxford Bus 16, 18, 35, 35A, X3

Tel (01865) 286 573

Website www.chch.ox.ac.uk

Admission £4

Open Mon-Sat 9.30am-5.30pm, Sun noon-5.30pm

Modern Art Oxford

This museum hosts a programme of temporary exhibits of modern art.

30 Pembroke Street, Oxford

Tel (01865) 722 733

Website www.modernartoxford.org.uk

Admission free

Open Tue-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm

Museum of Oxford

This museum recounts the history of the city and the university and it also hosts a programme of temporary exhibitions.

St Aldates, Oxford

Tel (01865) 252761

Website www.oxford.gov.uk/museum

Admission £2

Open Tue-Fri 10am-4pm, Sat 10am-5pm, Sun noon-4pm

The Oxford Story

This popular museum provides an insight into the city and its famous university.

Broad Street, Oxford

Tel (01865) 728 822

Website www.oxfordstory.co.uk

Admission £6.95

Open Jan-Jun Mon-Sat 10am-4.30pm, Sun 11am-4.30pm; Jul-Aug 9.30am-5pm daily; Sep-Dec Mon-Sat 10am-4.30pm, Sun 11am-4.30pm

Sheldonian Theatre

The Sheldonian is one of Sir Christopher Wren's first buildings, which was designed when he was an astronomy professor at Oxford.

Broad Street, Oxford

Tel (01865) 277 299

Website www.sheldon.ox.ac.uk

Admission £1.50

Open 10am-12.30pm & 2pm-4.30pm daily

Woodstock

Founded in 1163, this lovely village 13km north of Oxford is best known as the site of the World Heritage Blenheim Palace.

Practical Information

Visitor Information Centre

Oxfordshire Museum, Park Street, Woodstock

Tel (01993) 813276

Website www.wakeuptowoodstock.com

Coming & Going

Bus 20 (tel (01865) 772250) runs between Oxford (Gloucester Green and the train station) and Woodstock. A day return costs £3.70.

Sights

Blenheim Palace

Sir John Vanbrugh designed the lavishly appointed Blenheim Palace in the baroque style and it is decked out with a collection of fine furniture, paintings, sculptures and tapestries. The palace was the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill and there is an exhibition of his life and achievements.

This World Heritage Site also relates to the Battle of Blenheim in 1704 when John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, saved Vienna and England from French rule.

A44 Evesham Road, Woodstock

Bus 20

Tel 08700 602080

Website www.blenheimpalace.com

Admission £12.50 (£10 students); park & gardens £7.50 (£5.50 students)

Open 9am-4.45pm daily

Oxfordshire Museum

This museum has displays on Oxfordshire's history and culture and includes displays of Roman artefacts and the Stonesfield Carpet Textile Trail.

Park Street, Woodstock

Tel (01993) 813276

Open Jan-Apr Tue-Fri 10am-4pm, Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 2pm-5pm; May-Sep Tue-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 2pm-5pm; Oct-Dec Tue-Fri 10am-4pm, Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 2pm-5pm

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