Oxford Information - The Scholar's Guide to Oxford, UK. Tourist information for visitors to the University city of Oxford.

And the Glory of the Garden it shall never pass away!

Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936)

College Gardens

Many Oxford colleges have beautiful gardens hidden away behind their walls, with wide open quadrangles, peaceful cloisters and meticulously kept lawns. Unfortunately, most are closed to the public, apart from on the odd day during summer when individual colleges may grudgingly allow visitors. The most accessible gardens are probably at Magdalen, which includes a deer park, and at Christ Church. The Christ Church Memorial Gardens stretch down to both the rivers Cherwell and Thames and also form part of our Classic Walking Tour. It is sobering to think that Oxford City Council once proposed to build a road through these gardens as a by-pass to the busy High Street!

Christ Church Memorial Gardens

University Parks

The University Parks cover an extensive area between Parks Road to the west and the river Cherwell to the east. In the summer months, you can spend an afternoon watching the Oxford University cricket team taking on some of the foremost national and even international teams, all for free. Or if cricket isn't your thing, you could wander down to the river bank and watch the punts pass silently underneath the beautiful 'rainbow bridge'.

Botanic Gardens

High Street (near Magdalen Bridge)
Open: 9am - 4pm (5pm summer)
Entry £2 (April to August); Free (September to March)
Web site: www.ashmol.ox.ac.uk/omc/oxmus242.html

The Gardens were founded in 1621 by Earl Danby and are the oldest Botanic Gardens in Britain. They contain 8000 species of flora from all over the world. Many of the plants have been used for medical developments.

Port Meadow

Port Meadow is not really a garden at all, but an area of common land stretching alonside the east bank of the River Thames at Jericho. The pastureland was given to the Freemen of Oxford by King Alfred in return for fighting Danish invaders in the 10th century and these rights are recorded in the Domesday Book of 1066. To this day, members of the organisation The Freemen of Oxford exercise their ancient rights to graze cattle and horses on the land and to fish in the river. Access to the meadow is via Walton Well Road or Aristotle Lane (both off Walton Street) or you could walk northwards along the Thames towpath from the bridge on Botley Road.