Oxford

If Oxford, England, isn’t on your list for places to visit in the UK, then it should be.

The university town is jammed packed full of beautiful stone buildings, cobbled streets, and charming meadows. Just walking around, you feel the history of the place, and it’s easy to imagine all the famous scholars of years gone by walking the same city streets.

While pretty spires and secret college courtyards might not be as captivating to the little ones, we found our kids had a great day out in Oxford – there is plenty for them to do and we found planning a few child friendly activites in to our day made sure that all of us had fun on our day exploring.

Well connected with London and the rest of the UK, this architectural gem is definitely a sight not to be missed on any trip to England.

AT A GLANCE:

Oxford of course is most famous for the world class university, which is the oldest English speaking university in the world! Tourists are able to visit many of the colleges – you must include at least one college visit on a trip to Oxford!
Visit a museum – Oxford has many interesting museums, most of which are free to enter
Don’t drive – get the train to Oxford or use the park and ride system if driving. It will save you paying a congestion charge or getting stressed at the limited and extortionate parking (trust me, I speak from personal experience!)

Most Popular

🎓 Visit the colleges

🚶‍♀️Walking Tours

🛶 Punting

📚 Bodelian Library

🖼 Museums

THINGS TO DO – FAMILY FRIENDLY OXFORD

Visit a University College

The beautiful, historic and elite university of Oxford is made up of 43 individual colleges that are dotted around the city centre, rather than one large university campus.

Each college has its own rich history, culture, and notable features such as courtyards, gardens, or architecturally stunning chapels and dining halls.

Now the thought of taking your young kids to a university college might seem crazy to you, and yes the kids will probably find it boring, but we sold it to our 5 and 7 year old the following ways; we bigged up the Harry Potter factor (lots of filming locations in Oxford colleges, and even the ones that weren’t, still looked so Harry Potter-ish it impressed the kids!) We kept it short and sweet – we only chose one college to see, even though I would have loved to see more – less is more when it comes to boring buildings and kids; Finally, and most importantly- we bribed them sweets the whole way round. It worked, though!

Choosing the college: We checked on the website here to see which colleges were open (many are closed to the public), and the proce of entry.

One of the most famous, Christchurch college is quite pricey (£20 per adult/ £17 per child) where as others such as Exeter College are £3 per adult, and children are free, and there are quite a few that are completely free of charge. We did the Christchurch self guided tour, and I love seeing the beautiful building in real life, but now we have the idea of it, we will probably do a free college next time we come.

2) VISIT A MUSEUM

This one was put in for the kids – they are at an age where they love dinosaurs, animals and fossils so a trip to the Oxford University Museum of Natural History seemed just the job. It must be the top choice for a museum visit in Oxford – it’s just fab!

When we turned up, we didnt know what to expect. It was brilliant, the kids ADORED it and had such an interesting engaging time. To be honest, us adults loved it just as much as the boys and thought the building had the wow factor with its vaulted ceiling and huge iron arches. The exhibits as well were fascinating, and the staff were all friendly, knowledgeable, and totally engaging with the kids. We learnt alot!

Our favourites were the dinosaur bones, fossils, gems, and animal skeltons/ displays.

Another thing we loved was the signs saying ” please touch” on many of the displays. Kids love to learn through touch, and it was great giving the kids the opportunity to feel the cool artefacts.

Amazingly, this museum is still free to enter, no ticket required, and has a lovely cafe to boot. Full marks!

Attached to the Natural History Museum and also free to enter is the Pitt Rivers Museum – which was also pretty good, a bit smaller, though. By the time we got around to this one, we were getting ‘museumed out’, so we had a quick look round and then went on our way.

Another famous museum to try, also free entry, is the Ashmolean museum, and the History of Science museum.

3) Radcliffe Camera, Bridge of Sighs and surrounds

Everywhere in Oxford City centre is historic, pretty and picturesque, but one of the ‘main’ areas in the city and one that must not be missed is the building complex between Broad Street and the High Street where several famous buildings are located in pedestrianised squares, with narrow cobbled streets and alleys leading to the rest of the city.

We started at the Sheldonian Theatre, which lead on to the central Bodleian library complex and courtyard, The Bridge of Sighs (another architectural gem), Radcliffe Camera ( the iconic circular domed part of the Bodelian libraies) and Exeter College.

We just looked at all the buildings from the outside, but you can book into a Bodelian library tour if you would like to see inside, and also you can visit Exeter College for a small fee. We didn’t think the kids’ patience was up to it, so we stuck to a laid-back stroll with more bribes (haribo) for whinging control!

Before the streets lead you back to the high street, you will pass the Church of St Mary’s the Virgin. Here, there is a lovely little cafe at the base, and access to the church tower where you can see birds’ eye views of the surrounding historic buildings and colleges, some say the best views in Oxford! It’s £6 per adult (parents and carers be aware you must be 8 years old or over to ascend).

This was my favourite part of the whole day, just wandering, exploring, I loved the beauty of the buildings, the sense of history, and watching the students go about their daily business.

4) Christchurch Meadow

Christchurch Meadow is a large, green open space in the centre of Oxford, with the River Thames and River Cherwell carving through the grassy fields.

It’s the perfect place for a walk, a picnic, throwing a ball – we bring the football to let the boys let off steam after a more adult activity such a college tour or sightseeing walk. The edges of the meadow are surrounded by the spires and grand building of Oxford, it is very pretty.

Of course, there is also punting available on the river during the summer, although we haven’t plucked up the courage with the kids yet!

5) Oxford Botanical Gardens

The oldest botanical gardens in England, visit for beautiful flowers, and arboretum and lovely glasshouse. Children are welcome, and they run a few seasonal trails.for little ones, but there isn’t any type of play area here. It definitely worth a visit for me because I love the Phillip Pullman Trilogy His Dark Materials, and will have to visit ‘Lyras Bench’ when going to the gardens (IYKYK)

All in all we found Oxford a lovely, small and compact city, with stunning architecture which is the main attraction, as well as the beautiful river and meadow spaces which are also great for the kids to run about and play. It’s quite an adult orientated destination, but the kids were very happy outdoors exploring and especially loved the Maturla History Museum which was an absolute highlight for them and something they still talk about today – we have been tonthe London NHM many times and I think they prefer the calm and easier to access collections of this scaled down but just as impressive version.

Oxford remains a family favourite city day trip.