Oxford is home to one of the world’s oldest and greatest universities, alma mater to everyone from Oscar Wilde and Sir Walter Raleigh to Lester B. Pearson and Stephen Hawking, but there’s far more to the city than spires and scholars.VisitBritain
Oxford is an English city that retains a sense of hushed drama: Step off the main streets and you'll enter a world of cobbled lanes, higgledy pubs and age-old colleges.
It's home to one of the world's oldest and greatest universities, alma mater to everyone from Oscar Wilde and Sir Walter Raleigh to Lester B. Pearson and Stephen Hawking, but there's far more to the city than spires and scholars.
Marvel at the Magna Carta
Historians, make a note. The medieval royal charter known as the Magna Carta, still seen as one of the foundations of the British Constitution, will form the centrepiece of an Oxford exhibition this summer. One of the only remaining versions of the charter, signed by King John and a group of rebel barons exactly 800 years ago, will be on display at the newly opened Weston Library until Sept. 20. King John himself was born in the city. magnacarta800th.com/events/oxford
Track Inspector Morse
It's been precisely 40 years since the first of Colin Dexter's wonderful Inspector Morse novels was published, and Oxford plays a prominent role throughout his body of work. The TV adaptations were filmed here, too, and guided walking tours are offered for fans keen to see the spots immortalized onscreen. The city itself is no stranger to being filmed – the Harry Potter movies also used various Oxford locations, many of which can be visited by Muggles. visitoxfordandoxfordshire.com
See Churchill's birthplace
"At Blenheim Palace I took two important decisions: to be born and to marry." So said Sir Winston Churchill, who spent his early years living in what is still one of the country's finest stately homes. The palace, which stands 20 minutes north of Oxford in sweeping, lake-filled parkland, is holding various talks, concerts and dinners this year to commemorate both the 50th anniversary of Churchill's death and the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. There have also been widespread media reports that Blenheim will feature in the new James Bond film Spectre, to be released later this year. blenheimpalace.com
Raise a glass to Tolkien
It was here in Oxford that J.R.R. Tolkien's timeless Middle Earth fantasy stories first came into being. A blue plaque at 20 Northmoor Rd. marks the house where he wrote both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (the latter was finished 60 years ago this year), but you'll find you are just as rewarded by visiting the Eagle & Child, the pub he used to frequent with Narnia creator C.S. Lewis. Central Oxford is full of these snug, wood-beamed pubs. Call in, too, at the Turf Tavern, where Bill Clinton famously smoked pot "but didn't inhale." nicholsonspubs.co.uk/theeagleandchildoxford
Step into an alternative Oxford
When the British public was asked to vote on its all-time favourite books in a BBC poll, only Lord of the Rings and Pride and Prejudice finished ahead of Philip Pullman's masterful His Dark Materials trilogy. Set in a fictional version of Oxford (Jordan, the main college in the books, is based on Exeter College), it remains a work of rare magic. Fans can head up to the row of hornbeam trees on Sunderland Ave., where lead character Will first finds a window onto another world. The Northern Lights, the first of the three books, marks the 20th anniversary of its publication this year. philip-pullman.com
Explore one of the world's first museums
Oxford's neoclassical Ashmolean Museum is the oldest university museum on the planet. It's a gem, too – its spacious galleries hold Renaissance paintings, ancient ceramics and Roman remains, among countless other objects. Another great treasure trove in the city is the windowless, underlit Pitt Rivers Museum, a cornucopia of old artifacts and travellers' finds from across the globe. You'll find everything from shrunken heads to camel saddles. www.ashmolean.org; www.prm.ox.ac.uk
Eat around the globe
Oxford itself, with its botanical gardens and library domes, might be a quintessentially English city, but its dining scene is cosmopolitan. Marco's New York Italian, a Marco Pierre White restaurant, opened in February, while last year MVH, an Asian-influenced restaurant run by Michelin-starred chef Michael von Hruschka, opened. For some classic English grub, delve among the cheese shops and bakeries of the historic Covered Market, open since 1774. mpwrestaurants.co.uk; oxford-coveredmarket.co.uk
Stay somewhere old, and yet new
Last year saw the reopening of the Old Parsonage Hotel after a six-month refurb, leaving the 17th-century building with a new floor of rooms and a revitalized restaurant. Regularly ranked as one of the top places to stay in the city, it now offers complimentary bicycles and daily walking tours. Rooms from $485 (£250). oldparsonage-hotel.co.uk