Oxford Attractions

Ancient Meadows with Archaic Rules

Advantages: A pleasant place to stroll near the river in the centre of Oxford.
Disadvantages: Its not particularly interesting.

Christ Church Meadow is one of the two green spaces near the centre of Oxford open to the public, the other being the Parks: the University owns both. In all honesty neither are what you would call tourist attractions and the only reason I am writing about it at all is because Ciao have listed it under gardens to visit. However, if you are visiting Oxford it provides a pleasant escape from the traffic and bustle of the city centre, perhaps for a ...
...There are several entrances to Christ Church Meadows: from St. Aldates through the war memorial garden with its colourful herbaceous border, from cobbled Merton St., or from the top of High St., opposite Magdalen college via Rose Lane. Whichever entrance you choose you will be greeted by a set of rules which make the byelaws of the University Parks pale into insignificance: “The meadow keepers and constables are hereby instructed to prevent ...

Freespirit 22.04.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Christ Church Meadow (Oxford)

Saints and White Rabbits

Advantages: Interesting history, a glimse of a 'typical'college which also covers the history of the beginning of Oxford.x
Disadvantages: None really unless you don't like history.

Christ Church is neither the oldest nor the most attractive College in Oxford but it is surely the grandest, just as its original founder Cardinal Wolsey intended. As the setting for Evelyn Waugh’s ‘Brideshead Revisited’ suggests, nowhere more so than in the quads of Christ church does one catch the atmosphere of the life of a privileged university student. This college has it all: great history, great students, a great quad, ...
...the double monastery based where Christ Church now stands (700) which is where Oxford first began to exist. The first mention of this legend is quite late but recent archaeological finds tend to support it and there is an Anglo-Saxon cemetery under Tom quad. Cardinal Wolsey who had the ancient priory on the site suppressed founded Christ church in 1525. He intended Cardinal College, as it was originally called, to be the grandest in the country. ...

Freespirit 28.01.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Christ Church, Oxford

The Old Curiosity (Shop) Museum

Advantages: Fascinating collection, creatively displayed
Disadvantages: Challenges your ideas of how a museum should display things

The Pitt Rivers Museum is a treasure chest of the weird and wonderful and should be a compulsory must-see place for every tourist visiting Oxford but sadly, it rarely is. Consequently those of us who know and love this quirky little museum are sometimes torn between the desire to sell its joys to the world and to keep it as our own special little secret. But on this occasion I'll take the risk of the place filling up and tell you about it. The Pitt ...
...OUMNH and it's gorgeous. The Pitt Rivers is like an untidy cupboard hiding on the back of it's big sister museum. I have to confess that despite studying in a building right next door to the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and taking lectures regularly in the building itself, even I didn't venture into the Pitt Rivers during my four years as a student. I don't think I had even heard of the place. So when I finally did go in, I was bowled ...

koshkha 04.11.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Pitt Rivers Museum (Oxford)

A choo-choo and a Ho-Ho-Ho all in one!

Advantages: Get to see Thomas and Santa, a good day out
Disadvantages: Pretty dirty place, queues

...which takes place through selected days in December, so if you want to go and see Santa as well as Thomas, you've got a bit of a wait I'm afraid! Okay, the Railway Centre itself can be reached from the M4 (Junction 13) and the A34, or off the M40. First Great Western Trains also stop directly at the centre, and you can also catch buses from Oxford to get there, so it is pretty easy to find. We found from the website that we had to pre-book tickets ...
...For more information on the Thomas Days Out, and what they offer all year round, see their website which is www.didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk. It is worth checking the website regularly as I think Thomas only comes a few times a year, so keep an eye out! Thank you for reading :) ...

mummy2harry 11.01.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Days Out with Thomas at Didcot Railway Centre, Oxfordshire

Dodos and Dinosaurs

Advantages: Interesting history, building and contents especially if combined with a visit to Pitt rivers museum
Disadvantages: No refreshments and lack of tourist guide information

For a child the University Museum of Natural Science can be a source of fascination or of nightmares. Initially for me it was the latter. I much preferred to visit the University Parks which are adjacent to the museum and run up and down Rainbow Bridge or feed the ducks rather than enter the tomb like building housing “skellingtons”. As I grew older the fascinating contents of the Pitt rivers museum which is accessed through the University ...
...the scary monster bit to discover the millions of more interesting exhibits in the Pitt Rivers collection. On reflection it seems strange to think that I was scared of dinosaur skeletons but not worried in the slightest of the far more frightening “shrunken heads” and other equally barbaric exhibits in the Pitt Rivers collection. My own children, however, are of a new generation and preferred dinosaurs to ducks any day. The University ...

Freespirit 26.02.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Oxford University Museum of Natural History (Oxford)