A spicy mix of Oxford stories from a house once belonging to a city sausage maker.
Exactly this time last year my neighbour and go-to flora and fauna guru Beatrice Groves took me to the Lye Valley in search of the elusive flower, the Grass of…
The weather has perked up, the sun is out, and so what better than to take a walk along the river for a drink at the Perch Inn on Port…
The date is 30 June 1860. The location is the new University Museum (now the Oxford University Museum of Natural History). Upwards of 500 people have squashed into the first…
The forecast was rain, so I took an umbrella to Green Templeton College for the tour I had booked through Oxford’s Civic Society. It’s not a famous college. For a…
It’s easy to miss them as you glide up to the top floor of the new Westgate Centre. But glance to your right and there on the wall is a…
I was delighted to be invited to meet Chris Raworth at his workshop in Middle Barton, catching him just after he had assembled his set of gallopers for the last…
I have long been enchanted by Cecily Peele’s “MAP OF OXFORD’S HISTORY; WITH SOME OF HER WORTHIES”, (above) published in the 1930’s. A cursory glance at this funny, colourful pictorial…
We have the Reverend Carteret Fletcher to thank for saving Carfax Tower. Since the 13th century, this landmark building has stood at Oxford’s central crossroads, themselves the final confluence for…
Opposite Meadow Walk on St Aldates, there is a shop where tourists like to buy souvenirs after their visit to Christ Church. It’s appropriately called ‘Alice’s Shop’ as this pretty…
“A young boy scout once asked me which was my favourite grave,” smiles Dick Richards, a volunteer guide for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, as he stands amidst the rows…