Places to go

There’s a great variety of places to visit in Oxfordshire. The capital of the county is Oxford, famed for its dreaming spires, and home to the world-famous University of Oxford, the Ashmolean Museum and Bodleian Libraries. There’s also a vibrant arts and culture scene with venues such as Modern Art Oxford and New Theatre Oxford.

Venture west to the Cotswold towns of Witney, once famed for its blanket industry and now a thriving market town, and further west to Burford, a picture-perfect Cotswold town, home to a great selections antique shops and restaurants. Rather surprisingly, West Oxfordshire is home to some rather exotic wildlife. Crocodiles of the World, near Burford, is the UK’s only crocodile zoo, where you can meet amazing crocodiles, alligators, caimans and more!

To the north of Oxford is Woodstock, where visitors will not have to look far to find beautiful Blenheim Palace, birthplace of Winston Churchill and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Slightly further north, nestled in the rolling Oxfordshire countryside is Hook Norton, where you can sample a pint of Hooky at the Hook Norton Brewery which dates back to 1849. Bicester is in the north-west of the county and is a vibrant market town which has developed immensely in recent years alongside Bicester Village,  a luxury shopping village popular with visitors from all over the world. Nearby is the thriving market town Thame, perfectly situated at the foot of the Chiltern Hills. The historic town centre has a vibrant High Street and plays host to regular events, festivals and markets.

To the south following the River Thames is Abingdon-on-Thames which dates back to the Iron Age. Further south along the river is Wallingford where Agatha Christie lived from 1934 until 1974. The crime fiction connections continue as the town is one of the main filming locations for Midsomer Murders. Continuing south along the River Thames is Henley-on-Thames, a picturesque town famous for the annual Royal Regatta – watched by over 300,000 people every year.