Travel
16 March 2010
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| Bike, bike and more bikes in Oxford. |
OMINOUS-looking clouds had rolled over the skies on the morning we were due to leave for our weekend away.
As we trudged through the streets of the East End, freezing rain dripped down our necks. But by the time we were crossing the Chilterns, shafts of sunlight penetrated the cloud and red kites soared overhead.
The famous "dreaming spires", unfortunately, are not the first things to strike passengers disembarking at the railway station. At first glance, we could have been in just about any town centre in the country. But the city's charm reveals itself as you wend your way through the streets and courtyards, away from the station and the main drag.
Stone walls shroud the secrets that lie beyond them but a quick jaunt up a passageway and around a corner will, often as not, reveal a hidden gem.
Magdalen College is one of these; despite being in all the guide books, it is concealed behind the imposing city walls. While the main entrance may look a bit more impressive, we wouldn't know because we sauntered into the grounds by following a gaggle of students before realising we probably shouldn't be there.
But visitors are allowed into the college's striking grounds, which even have their own deer park, to wander around the gothic cloisters as well as take in the imposing facade of the New Building (although it's 275 years old).
Oxford's undoubted gem is the fantastic Ashmolean Museum. The collection of art and artefacts, while still pretty vast, is like a mini British Museum and the building is crammed with so many treasures that we had exhausted ourselves after looking around only a fraction of it. And it's free.
Being a university city, nice pubs are a bit thin on the ground but we did find a decent offering, the Head of the River, where we had a few pints from that famous Oxfordshire brewery, err... Fuller's.
George Street is home to chain bars and restaurants, as well as raucous students who are also out and about during the day, either cycling around wearing scarves or clutching cans of lager under the Bridge of Sighs dressed as Gene Simmons from Kiss.
The city is small so getting around is a piece of cake, especially if you use the preferred mode of transport; bikes are used by absolutely everyone but there isn't the "scene" there is in London and that makes for friendlier streets.
During the day on a Saturday the city's pedestrianised Cornmarket Street seethes with shoppers, tourists and students performing Shakespeare or playing in swing bands. By night revellers weave around in groups shouting, falling over and occasionally being sick in doorways, which would almost be enough to put you off if it wasn't such a nice place.
Victoria Huntley
getting there
First Great Western Trains take about an hour from Paddington
Where to stay
Ethos Hotel Oxford, 59 Western Road, Grandpont, OX1 4LF
Tel: 01865 245 800 info@ethoshotels.co.uk
Where to eat
- Gee's Restaurant, 61 Banbury Road, OX2 6PE. Tel:
01865 553 540 www.gees-restaurant.co.uk
- Head of the River
Folly Bridge, OX1 4LA. Tel: 01865 721 600
What to do
- Ashmolean Museum, Beaumont St, OX1 2PH www.ashmolean.org
Free
- Magdalen College
High Street, OX1 4AU
Adults £4, seniors, children, students £3
- The University of Oxford Botanic Garden, Rose Lane, OX1 4AZ. £3