Highlights Tours

Bubble / Highlight Tours

Following lockdown 3, the relaxation of the rules and the reintroduction of ‘the rule of 6’, we are delighted to be bringing back our popular ‘Bubble Tours’.

Currently available Monday-Saturday and at any time to suit you, these tours are private and for up to 5 people (as the guide will equal 6). Perfect for a family group or two couples looking to have a (socially distanced) meet up!

From 17th May, these special tours will become known as a Highlight tours and will only be available Monday-Saturday at 10am or 4.15pm to fit in with our tour schedule.

Peering in to the colleges! Come discover Oxford with us ©philknight and ©walkingtoursofoxford

These tours are 1-hour in length and will show you the very best of Oxford in 60 minutes with your qualified guide. A private tour such as this allows for interaction and for questions to be asked. We can tailor the tour to any requests that you may have – want a bit of wizardly magic and Harry Potter then – Abracadabra! A family tour to include the children – consider it done or perhaps you are a couple looking to explore the history of Oxford – that is no problem! Teenager children thinking of applying to Oxford and want a tour to help – look no further! Or perhaps murder? A Morse / Lewis and Endeavour tour would be perfect!

Cost is £75 – so with a group of 5 that is just £15 per person which is excellent value. Don’t take our word for it, you can check out the hundreds of on-line reviews which make us the number 1 rated tour company in Oxford both for TripAdvisor and Feefo.

This special offer is only available direct and for a limited time.

Friendly, knowledgeable and qualified guides are waiting to show you Oxford! ©philknight ©walkingtoursofoxford

Email info@walkingtoursofoxford.com to book.

“Walking Tours of Oxford is excellent and very much recommended. Heidi, our guide was extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic but also orientated the tour to her audience so in our case, we are a family of four, with two boys aged 13 and 15. It was the perfect way to familiarise ourselves with the city and point out details that we would have not noticed or understood the significance. We really enjoyed the tour and the two hours passed so quickly. Thank you, Heidi, – a really great experience and introduction to Oxford!”
Feefo review December 2020

“This was a great walking tour. Our guide, Heidi, was so knowledgeable & told stories in a charismatic way that made you feel you were living them. This really helped us get to know the history of Oxford & it’s famous University & colleges, well worth doing. Thank you, Heidi”
TripAdvisor review November 2020

Endeavour Series 8 Filming – March 2021

All photo’s ©walkingtoursofoxford. Please do not share individually but do share link to post for everyone to see!

In ‘Normal’ times, we would have already been treated to series 8 of Endeavour. We last saw our hero on TV screens in “Zenana” back on 23rd February 2020 and season 8 was confirmed at that time. Then Covid hit and England entered a full national lockdown on 23rd March 2020, exactly one month after that last episode airing on ITV filming, along with our entire way of life stopped.

Endeavour filming season 8 15/3/2021 Exeter College, Oxford. ©walkingtoursofoxford
Shaun Evans

Summer came and went and with that we enjoyed some normality and our Morse / Lewis and Endeavour tours resumed which continued to run through August / September and October before Lockdown 2 in November. It was a busy 3 months with most tours going out full. ‘Staycations’ became popular and as many had rewatched the programmes during those challenging ‘Stay at home’ months, we had visitors from all corners of the United Kingdom. The guides here at “Walking Tours of Oxford” also used those lockdown months to rewatch episodes; entire seasons – a love of all three programmes was reignited and we had time to reconnect and remember all those little moments and connections that run so deep.

As we now look towards a release from lockdown 3, we will be returning with our tours on 17th May (subject to government guidelines). It might be possible to operate some private tours prior to this date.

Tours will be smaller than before and college entry may not be possible but, in some ways, this has given us the freedom to explore the street scenes further and many of the colleges are still seen and talked about, albeit from the outside. We have invested is a state-of-the-art sound system, no other tour company offers this in Oxford, and we believe it enhances the tour experience as it means everyone can hear no matter how busy Oxford gets. Moreover, it allows for complete ‘social distancing’ between your individual group and others on the tour. Each person on our public tours is provided, at the time of the tour and free of charge, with a small headset and earphones. However, we do encourage our guests to bring their own earphones which can be used with the headsets. All equipment has been thoroughly sanitised between each use.

It was uplifting to see that filming had resumed on Mothering Sunday – 14th March 2021. Two guides made it in that day and met Shaun and the crew and were lucky to get some photos which we are sharing below. It was a little surreal to see the crew and cast all masked up in-between takes. Filming continued inside Exeter College, which has a long association with the Morse universe on Monday 15th March. Heidi, owner of Walking Tours of Oxford was able to witness some of the filming that day and a selection is here for you.

Tomorrow is a good day!

Come and join us to see just where all this took place along with other episodes of Endeavour Morse and Lewis. See the locations and hear the stories – all our guides are fully qualified – members of The Institute of Tourist Guiding and the Oxford Guild of Tour Guides.

Quote code NDVR8 at checkout for a 10% discount on our group Morse / Lewis and Endeavour Tours which is available for any tour date throughout 2021 but for bookings taken prior to 17th May. We anticipate that tours will get booked up so don’t delay and book today!

Filming on Merton Street, Oxford 14/3/2021. Endeavour Season 8. ©walkingtoursofoxford Jane Mead
Endeavour season 8 filming 14/3/2021. Merton Street, Oxford. ©walkingtoursofoxford Christine Bainbridge
Endeavour Filming season 8 15/3/2021. Exeter College, Oxford ©walkingtoursofoxford
Endeavour Filming season 8 15/3/2021. Exeter College, Oxford ©walkingtoursofoxford
Shaun Evans ‘getting ready for take’
Shaun Evans – filming in times of Covid. March 14th 2021. ©walkingtoursofoxford Christine Bainbridge

Punting in Oxford

This week we are turning our attention once again to what you might like to do after your Walking Tours of Oxford tour.

After your tour, your head will be full of fascinating information. You may fancy a rest from walking so that you can mull over what you have so recently found out. Then again, you may just want to sit back vacantly and watch the world drift gently past whilst you trail a weary hand in the cool waters of one of Oxford’s rivers…

How to achieve this sublime state? Find yourself a punt. Or alternatively …. sign up for a Walking Tours of Oxford ‘Walk and Punt’ tour and we’ll source a ‘chauffeured punt’ for you.

Punting on the Cherwell

What is a punt?
A punt is a flat-bottomed two-directional boat which you propel along a river by means of a long pole. The pole is for pushing, because you use the shallow river-bed for propulsion. Punts are equipped with seats and cushions and there are no rapids on our rivers, so expect a relaxing ride.

Yes, Oxford is on the Thames (known locally as the Isis) and there are some lovely areas to punt on the Isis, notably alongside Port Meadow, but for our money, one of its tributaries – the Cherwell – is the place to go.

This also seems to be the conclusion of the City of Oxford’s two punt-hire companies, one, The Cherwell Boathouse, situated on the Cherwell to the North of the city and boasting its own excellent restaurant and the other, Magdalen Boathouse, predictably located at Magdalen, just beside the bridge and below the tower.

Our punt-hire companies offer options – you can either punt yourself or be ‘chauffeured’. When considering these possibilities bear in mind the following: a) How much are you planning to drink? And b) Would you mind falling into the river?
You might also take into account your crew’s level of punting expertise. If you haven’t punted before, do you just want to lie back and watch the world glide by or are you up for learning a new skill which will probably make you slightly wet? (Even if you don’t fall in, the water is apt to run down your arms and a novice punter may inadvertently splash any companions several times.)

If you have junior crew members, it is definitely worth going for the ‘do-it-yourself’ option because it is a lot of fun, it’s good exercise and it will tire them out. If you are more ‘senior’ and just want a quiet afternoon which doesn’t involve extricating yourself from the riverbank or constantly apologising to other boats for inadvertently ramming them, then go for the ‘chauffeur’. You may even get an Oxford student who can tell you all about college life.

Ideal provisions for the journey are Pimms and lemonade (or just the lemonade for junior/tea-total punters) and a cream tea. Kit yourself out with a packet of scones (or bring some homemade ones for a more authentic experience), a jar of jam and a tub of clotted cream. Make sure you have a knife and something to drink out of. If you actually want tea, a thermos flask is advisable too.

Delicious Pimms – before, after or during!

The wonderful thing about punting in Oxford is just how quickly you leave the hustle and bustle of the city behind and find yourself out in the countryside. You can even stop and have your tea on a river bank. For naturalists, this is a great way to silently approach wildlife and it is ideal for birdwatching.

For a complete contrast to touring and an escape from the city, punting is the perfect way to spend your afternoon. Our ‘Tour and Punt’ offering combines a 90-minute tour with a 30 minute chauffeured punt. Alternatively, you can come for a longer tour and hire a punt for a few, restful hours on the river.

@copyright Victoria Bentata

Alice Day in Oxford

Alice Day in Oxford

4th July may be Independence Day in the US, but here in Oxford we celebrate Alice Day. This year it was a bit ‘virtual’ but usually you can bump into several ‘Alices’ wearing little blue dresses and ‘Alice’ bands and take guided ‘Alice walks’ around the city. At Walking Tours of Oxford we would be delighted to take you on an Alice tour any day of the year!
So, why 4th July? Because this was the day in 1862 when Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (alias Lewis Carroll) set off to spend a day rowing down the Thames. With him were his friend Reverend Duckworth and the three young daughters of the Dean of Christ Church, where Dodgson taught maths.

Charles Dodgson was a man with a vivid imagination and a playful sense of humour and he loved to tell stories. The three little girls were called Lorina, Alice and Edith and he made up stories especially for them. Often, they appeared in the stories themselves. On 4th July 1862 he told the story of Alice, who fell down a rabbit hole into another world. It was all a dream, but he wouldn’t reveal that until the end of the story. Alice asked him to write it down. It took him a couple of years, but he did it and gave her the original manuscript as a present. Today, it is Oxford’s most famous and well-loved book.

This beautiful illustration is from a book called The Nursery Alice, which was published in 1880, fifteen years after the original Alice in Wonderland. It was for small children and Lewis Carroll shortened and simplified it so they would understand it better. He also asked John Tenniel, the illustrator, to colour in some of his original pictures. Here we see all the members of that 4th July rowing party: The ‘Dodo’ (a joke at himself by Dodgson, who had a bit of a stutter), Alice, the Duck (Reverend Duckworth) and in the back row the Eaglet (Edith) and the Lory (Lorina). All of them have just dried off by running a ‘Caucus Race’ after falling into the pool of Alice’s tears. The Lory had ‘turned sulky’ and would only say ‘I am older than you and must know better.’ Lorina was, of course, Alice and Edith’s older sister.

Lewis Carroll makes frequent (often thinly disguised) references to people and places in Oxford. If you come on one of our tours, we can tell you all about them. Get to know the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts, the Dormouse, the Drawling Master and find out why the Hatter was Mad. You can also see some of the places frequented by Dodgson and the real Alice.

At present, we all seem to have fallen down the rabbit hole, but let’s hope it’s all just a bad dream. In the meantime, join our new Bubble Tour!!

Click here to book

Walking Tours of Oxford looks forward to seeing you in Oxford very soon!

 © Victoria Bentata 2020 for Walking Tours of Oxford

Museum of The History of Science

When Albert Einstein lectured in Oxford in 1931, little did he know that 90 years later Oxford’s visitors would still be puzzling over his calculations. Einstein’s handwriting is clear though his equations are for most people – unfathomable. Nevertheless, the ‘Einstein Blackboard’ is today the most famous exhibit in Oxford’s Museum of the History of Science. See it here: Blackboard

Einstein himself grumbled about the Blackboard’s preservation. At the time he said it smacked of personality cult and in 1933 he objected that he had since discovered that everything he had said in the lecture was untrue (!). Needless to say, in the interests of tourism, the protests of the most famous scientist in history went unheeded.

In fact, as with all our University of Oxford museums, you can spend several days visiting virtually during lockdown. We thought we should just give you some history before you get started:

Oxford’s Museum of the History of Science was not the first occupant of the rather lovely limestone building on Broad Street that you can see in the photo. Opened in 1925, it grew from a much older Museum (discussed in a previous blog), the 17th century Ashmolean Museum. But right from the start, science featured. The original Ashmolean housed a lecture theatre, exhibition room and, in the basement, the University’s chemistry and anatomy laboratory.

Arguably the most interesting work took place in the basement, hidden from view, where the Tomlins Reader in Anatomy and his students would dissect people (!). By royal decree of Charles I in 1636, the body of anyone hanged within 21 miles of Oxford belonged to the University. Later medical students had to watch two dissections before qualifying. In today’s basement, you can still see some human bones and a skull (which someone should probably have buried).

Museum to The History of Science, Broad Street

You can also visit the largest collection of astrolabes in the world. What is an astrolabe? It is an instrument which helps in navigation and astronomy, in estimating the position of the sun and the stars. Many of our astrolabes come from the Islamic world and helped to ascertain prayer times and the direction of Mecca. Recently, the Museum of the History of Science collaborated with Syrian refugees in Oxford to put together an exhibition. Read their blog and see some astrolabes here: click here

Take the virtual tour Click here and don’t miss: The Penicillin exhibit in the basement. Penicillin was developed in Oxford in the 1940s by Professor Florey and his team. Here you can see not only the original bedpans and biscuit tins used to grow the mould (yes, they were short of research funding!), but even Professor Florey’s Nobel Prize medal.

For fans of Alice in Wonderland, see if you can find Lewis Carroll’s camera. Charles Dodgson (alias Lewis Carroll) was an accomplished photographer and even took some photos of the real Alice Liddell.

George III’s silver microscope is also stunning. But don’t take our word for it – browse the Museum Director’s top tips at Click here Stay well and enjoy!

When you come to Oxford, we recommend a trip to the museum either before or after a Walking Tours of Oxford tour. If you are particularly interested in Science and Medicine, we can even offer you a specialist Oxford Science and Medicine tour.
Private Tours

 © Victoria Bentata 2020 for Walking Tours of Oxford

Oxford’s Libraries – The Bodleian

Oxford’s Libraries – The Bodleian

Home to more than 100 libraries, Oxford is one of the most bookish cities in the world. Each of its 38 colleges has at least one library, some have two or three and Magdalen college has five! Every faculty has a specialised subject library and the mother of them all is the great Bodleian library.

The University’s first library (the Cobham Library) was in an upstairs room of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin and opened in 1320. In the days before damp proofing, keeping books as far as possible from the ground was the only way to save them from mouldering. Still today, a large number of our Oxford libraries are on upper floors.

However, Merton College breaks all records as the oldest ‘continuously functioning’ academic library in the world, dating from 1373. Merton’s books weren’t originally kept on shelves, but in a locked chest and only Masters of Arts could access them. Later, owing to their great value in the pre-printing world, they were chained to the shelves. You can visit the Merton College website for a virtual tour of this stunning library. Merton College . Notice the beautiful ‘waggon’ ceiling and take a look at some of the stained glass.

The Bodleian Library is positively modern by comparison, founded at the beginning of the 17th century. However, it is now one of the most important libraries in the world and in the UK is second only to London’s British Library.

It is named after Sir Thomas Bodley, who studied at Merton and there developed a love for books. He was a lucky man and his first piece of luck was finding a rich widow willing to marry him. Mrs Bodley’s first husband had been a successful pilchard merchant, so some say that the Bodleian was ‘built on fish’.

However, there was nothing fishy about the deal Bodley made with the Stationers Company of London in 1610. Sharing his vision and keen to promote their books, the Company promised him a ‘free and perfect’ copy of every book ever published in this country. The deal they signed is still in force today and UK publishers still have to send their books. So the Library has quite a collection! Around 13 million books at last count. You can see the original agreement here: Click here

The second most important rule in the Bodleian is that nobody is allowed to take out books. You want to read? You sit in the library. This rule applies to royalty too. During the English Civil War, King Charles I was holed up at Christ Church, having lost London to the Parliamentarians. Desperately needing advice, he decided to consult the Seigneur d’Aubigny’s book on military strategy. So he sent a note to the Bodleian asking to borrow it and the librarian …turned him down. The Bodleian still has the note. The King of England had to come sit in the library. (Not that the book helped, obviously – he still lost the war and, ultimately, his head…)

As observed, books and water don’t mix, but books and fire are an equally major disaster. So rule no. 1 is that anyone who wants to become a ‘reader’ in the library has to take an oath. You swear ‘not to bring into the Library or kindle therein any fire or flame’. This may seem a tame method of fire prevention, but the Bodleian has been as lucky as its founder: it has never had a fire.

As for the Bodleian’s collections… this period of lockdown is the perfect time to investigate and admire them at your leisure. The Marks of Genius Exhibition of 2015 was truly extraordinary for both its range and its depth. It contained everything from the Magna Carta to the Audubon Book of American Birds, from The Wind in the Willows and Tolkien’s Hobbit dust jacket, to 15 century maps, Newton’s Principia and the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Access it here: http://genius.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/about/marks-of-genius/ In fact, you’ll get a better view and more information online than had you visited the original exhibition.
If you are interested in Women’s history, try this: Click here for the ‘Women Who Dared’ Exhibition 2016. You can click on each exhibit for more information and for access to a whole world of related exhibits.

The Tower of The Five Orders

In normal times, a tour of the Bodleian Library (https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/plan-your-visit ) is ideal for bookish people who have already enjoyed a Simply Oxford Tour with Walking Tours of Oxford. Simply Oxford Tour informationWalking Tours of Oxford also offer a wide-ranging and thoroughly entertaining Literary Tour of Oxford and specialist tours on C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien

©Victoria Bentata 2020 for Walking Tours of Oxford

Ashmolean Museum

Ashmolean Musuem

Had a certain widow not been found tragically (and some thought suspiciously) drowned in her garden pond, then Oxford’s oldest and largest museum might never have come to be.

The unfortunate victim was the former wife of John Tradescant the Younger. Her recently deceased husband had left his collection of ‘rareities’ to his friend Elias Ashmole, who had helped him to catalogue it in 1656. However, Mrs Tradescant was unimpressed and was in the process of contesting the will, when Ashmole moved in next door to her (!) A hop over the fence, a little push… we shall never know, but the consequence was that Ashmole secured the collection and Oxford, England and the World its first public museum.

You can see portraits of the John Tradescants in the Ashmolean Museum today, the Elder framed by vegetables, fruit and flowers and the Younger proudly wielding a spade. Both were royal gardeners to Charles I, a role which (unusually) involved international travel on a grand scale. Their job was to collect plants, but their hobby was collecting anything they found interesting, the aforementioned ‘rareities’ or ‘curiosities’.

Elias Ashmole was a well-connected lawyer, scholar and antiquarian collector. He eventually gave his and the Tradescants’ collection to the University of Oxford in 1677 on the proviso that it be housed it in a building dedicated to the ‘advancement of knowledge’.

The Ashmolean Museum opened in 1683 but it was considerably smaller than today and was located in the building of what is now Oxford’s Museum of the History of Science on Broad Street. The collections were on the top floor, the ground floor was a lecture theatre and in the basement was the University’s first Chemistry and Anatomy Laboratory. It was here that the University’s first Reader in Anatomy dissected the remains of any criminals hanged within 21 miles of Oxford. (You can see the building here with the famous Oxford heads outside – no, nobody is entirely sure whose heads they are – herms, Roman emperors… the original sculptor left no notes!)

Today’s Ashmolean Museum (see photo) is a short walk from the original museum in a classical building built in the 19th century to the designs of Charles Cockerell and is on a much larger scale. The original collections have been added to over the centuries, there was a redevelopment in 2009 and in 2011 its new Nubian and Egyptian galleries opened. The Ashmolean Museum is primarily dedicated to Art and Archaeology. It houses the largest collection of Raphael drawings in the world, it has a stunning Pre-Raphaelite gallery and an extensive collection of everything from casts, ceramics and coins to sculpture and tapestries. It also has important artefacts from Oxford’s history, such as the coins minted here by Charles I during the Civil War.

Whilst the museum is currently closed due to the Coronavirus pandemic, it is still visitable online. And don’t think it will be a quick visit! – There are 112,500 objects in the online collection, so that’s around 625 objects every day for the next six months!

Top Tip:
Start with the Treasures Click here.
In particular at this difficult time, look for Walter Sickert’s painting ‘Ennui’ – this may chime with your mood – or remind you how well you are doing… Or look at the Messiah violin by Stradivarius ‘Like the Messiah, worth waiting for’ 😊

Once we are up and running again, a perfect day in Oxford features our Simply Oxford Walking Tour at 11.30am which ends around the Broad Street area, perfect timing for lunch and then afternoon at The Ashmolean Museum.

[For more information about the Tradescants, visit The Garden Museum in Lambeth Click here

©Victoria Bentata 2020 for Walking Tours of Oxford