JULY 2019
I visited Bath & Oxford as a part of a road trip through Southern England with my mother. From these two cities I much preferred Bath and wished we had more time in Bath, while we stayed longer in Oxford. However Oxford is a good classic and worth a visit for a day.
Oxford
I knew I wanted to visit the university of Oxford, but did not know that pretty much the whole city of Oxford consists of colleges that together make up the university of Oxford. So there is not just one University to visit, but you can visit several colleges.
My favorite activity in Oxford was climbing the tower of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin. The church is free to enter and you pay £ 5 to enter the tower. You have to climb 127 steps to go all the way up the tower, the last part of the climb gets really narrow. Once you get up the tower you will be rewarded with beautiful views of Oxford. I found Oxford to be really crowded, as there were a lot of school groups/bus tours visiting when we were there and the tower was a good way to see Oxford in peace. The church itself is also worth a visit, it is very well maintained and has an enormous stained glass window.
Another way to get away from the bustle of tour groups is to visit a rooftop bar. We visited The Varsity Club for delicious Pimms cocktails (a British must try!). The Varsity Club was difficult to find at first, the entrance is located inside the covered market of Oxford, when you stand in front of the covered market at your left side. The Varsity Club was relaxing, not too fancy and the prices were okay (£ 7 for a Pimms). The covered market of Oxford is a nice spot to have a low key meal.
Of course we also wanted to visit a college and we chose to visit Merton College. Merton is one of the oldest colleges of Oxford University and has a beautiful campus. We paid £ 3 to enter the property and received a small leaflet with information. The leaflet did not answer the questions we had about Merton, nothing was explained about college life, it just contained some historic facts. In the end we were left wanting more and felt like we did not learn much about Oxford. The colleges seem really private/secretive, sometimes we could not even discover the name of the college. I would recommend to do an organized walking tour of Oxford, after googling I noticed several options. This would be better to get a general idea about Oxford, the student life and you would have the opportunity to ask questions.
Where we stayed
It is difficult or expensive to park in the city, so we stayed in a bed and breakfast just outside the city. This cost about £ 80 a room including breakfast. I would not recommend our Airbnb as I did not love it, but it was comfortable to get into town by bus.
Food
We went to the Kings Arms for a traditional pub lunch. I had delicious battered Halloumi which I enjoyed on the terrace overlooking Oxford city. The personnel here is really kind and they have a nice traditional menu including all sort of pies.
In the evening I liked to have a light meal, as we had such a big lunch at the Kings Arms. When I don’t have time to do research and I am in England I like to visit Cote Brasserie. This is a French bistro-style restaurant, with a mixture of modern and classic decorations and good service. They serve small meals for about £ 15 which you can order a la carte, or you can chose a meal deal. The garlic bread is absolutely divine and they change specials regularly. A glass of wine costs about £ 5. We visited Cote again in Bath 😉
Bath
We only had a short amount of time in Bath so I had to prioritize what we would visit. On the top of the priority list was visiting the Roman Baths. Ticket prices vary slightly based on the moment you visit, we paid £ 18 per person to entry. For this price you also get an audio tour, which explains the history of the baths really well. I thought this was an expensive visit, but I did like the way the museum was set up, with kids tours and cool audiovisuals. It was interesting to hear how the discovery of one hot spring caused the whole area to develop in the Roman area. I have studied Latin in high school, hence my interest in these kind of sights, and really liked this visit. It brought back many good memories from school, while walking through the beautiful baths. From the rooftop of the baths you also have great views of Bath Abbey.
Next we walked from the Roman Baths to the Royal Crescent. This is a street built in the shape of a half moon and it is one of the iconic sights of Bath. The street mainly consists of houses, but it also has a small museum which you can visit to see how the houses looked like in the 18th century. By doing this walk you pass many typical Bath streets and a park, so you get a good idea of the city.
What I really liked about Bath is that the city is built in a valley, with the outskirts located on hills. This creates an intimate atmosphere, which is heightened by the use of stones and colors for the houses, which are very cohesive. There was not a lot of traffic in the city, so it felt like a really “clean” city. We visited it on a beautiful day, so a lot of people were outside enjoying the parks and terraces. The steep roads actually made for a fun drive through the city.
Where we stayed
We stayed in a lovely Bed and Breakfast called West Tyning. It was a 15 minute drive to Bath and was located on the countryside. We could see horses passing by from our cottage style room. You were also allowed to stay in the perfectly maintained garden. In this garden there were two wooden “Hobbit holes”, which you can also rent for the night. We stayed in a regular room for £ 110 a night including breakfast.
