Fiona Whitty explores life beyond the university in the city of Oxford, which is far more than the impressive buildings and university for which it is known
Hear the name Oxford and you’d be forgiven for thinking of a city that revolves purely around its famous university. But on a weekend trip there, 18-year-old daughter in tow, I discovered there’s so much more to it – namely the perfect bonding pastimes of food and drink, theatre and shopping.
Thanks to its compact nature, Oxford was easy to get around, leaving us more time to indulge – or just chill. It was also simple to get to, with our train from London taking just 52 minutes. Direct services run from Bristol, Birmingham and Manchester too.
Sounds perfect? It was. Rosie and I kicked off our break with some retail therapy. Oxford’s pedestrianised high street is packed with brands while its side roads are home to independent stores, cafes and boutiques. The main shopping centre, called Westgate, is cleverly designed with aerial walkways to give the intimacy of an indoor mall despite it being open-air.
We loved the huge Zara, three-storey John Lewis and the roof terrace that’s home to a string of restaurants and offers a beautiful panorama of the city ( westgateoxford.co.uk ). For a leisurely lunch we popped into Pho, which focuses on healthy Vietnamese food.
We loved its signature Pho dishes. The Vietnamese national dish, it’s a steaming soup of rice noodles with extras such as tofu and button mushrooms, beef brisket or chicken, accompanied by a plate of herbs which you can add to taste. Pure comfort food.
Stir-fried Chinese leaf with fresh chillies and seafood spring rolls made great sides, while the house cocktails spun clever twists on classics. Our favourites were a spicy lychee margarita with Thai chillies, and a vodka martini with homemade lemonade and Thai basil.
Rosie and I are huge musical lovers so that evening a real treat lay ahead – a show at the city’s New Theatre. There’s been a theatre on the site for 188 years, with the newest incarnation – opened in 1934 – designed by architects William and T.R. Milburn and Sir Thomas Bennett to be “England’s finest”.
It certainly attracted the best – Sir Laurence Olivier and Dame Judi Dench are among the stars who’ve performed there over the years. Our amazing show – Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – was a touring production of the West End hit and the theatre’s lavish interior made the experience feel grander than ever.
It was only on for a limited run – but other mega hits such as Dear Evan Hansen and Grease as well as shows by John Bishop, Sarah Millican and Paul Weller are in the pipeline this year ( atgtickets.com ). Afterwards we were ready to flop at the voco Oxford Spires Hotel. Situated about a mile outside the centre, it’s linked to all the action by a relaxing walk along the River Thames past university boat houses – or a £1.40 five-minute bus ride.
We felt like we had the best of both worlds – the city on our doorstep yet plenty of green space and peace and quiet around us. Our huge room contained two super-king beds and home-from-home touches like a jug of proper milk, coffee bags rather than sachets and fresh biscuits in a jar. The breakfasts were definitely worth getting up for with lots of fresh fruit, pastries and juices and friendly service accompanying the large hot and cold buffets.
Next morning, after picking up a free tourist map from the hotel reception, we enjoyed a pleasant stroll back along the Thames path and into the centre to discover some of Oxford’s most famous sights. In his work Thyrsis, Victorian poet Matthew Arnold dubbed it the “city of dreaming spires” after its incredible architecture, and it’s easy to see why as impressive buildings abound.
Its university is the oldest in the English-speaking world and we strolled past several of its esteemed colleges, such as Christ Church, founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII and more recently used as a Harry Potter filmset. We saw the stunning Bodleian Library, one of the oldest in Europe and the second largest in the UK after the British Library, and St Aldates police station, which doubled as Inspector Morse’s workplace in the TV series.
Then we wandered through the 250-year-old Covered Market with its craft and food stalls, and past Hertford Bridge, better known as the Bridge of Sighs because of its similarity to Venice’s version. For an introduction to how gin, vodka and whisky are made – and a few tastings – we caught a bus to TheOxford Artisan Distillery in thesuburbs.
Sadly it’s about to close but its legacy will live on as it will continue to supply gin to the Ashmolean Museum and Oxford Botanic Garden. We ended our stay with a trip to Junkyard Golf Club, located back in Westgate. Part of a small chain that’s spreading up and down the UK, it contained three madcap courses based around a car scrapyard, a jungle and a circus.
Crazy obstacles involved ramps, skulls, a cannon and a pair of trainers, all accompanied by bright neon lights and pumping tunes to add to the fun. As a perk you can bring your drinks around with you – all the more reason to take advantage of fun happy-hour cocktails such as Fizz Pop with a bubblegum bottle and popping candy garnish and Snakes on a Plane with a jelly viper on top (from £9.50pp for nine holes, from £14.50pp for 18 holes ( junkyardgolfclub.co.uk ).
A weekend in Oxford? We’ll drink to that.
Book the holiday
- GWR runs up to 38 trains a day each way between London Paddington and Oxford from £6 single, from £18 single in first class. Direct services with GWR also run from Reading and Worcester. gwr.com
- Rooms at voco Oxford Spires start at £161 a night B&B. oxfordspires.vocohotels.com
- More info at experienceoxfordshire.org
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