Riding Through the Snow
Phoebe Taplin jumps on the S3 bus from Oxford to Chipping Norton and is transported through a winter wonderland
Phoebe Taplin tours Oxfordshire on the S3 bus
THE frosty spires and stained-glass windows of Oxford; the huge, goldstoned palace warming up the wintry gardens and misty lakes of Blenheim; Christmas shopping in the cinnamon-scented markets; pub crawling through the honey-coloured streets of a Cotswold town – the Oxfordshire Cotswolds has so much to offer and a fine way to see it all is with a ride on the doubledecker S3 bus.
Beyond the dreaming spires
Get on the bus at Oxford railway station for a mini sightseeing tour through the world-famous university town, crossing the canal to crawl down busy George Street. The bus soon swings past the end of Broad Street, where Oxford’s Christmas market takes place, with carols, music, mulled wine and greenerydecked cabins. It runs this year from 5-21 December and has more than fifty stalls selling all kinds of gifts: artisan Columbian coffee or chocolate made in Oxford, handmade wooden salt and pepper grinders from neighbouring Gloucestershire, jewellery from Hertfordshire or sheepskin rugs from Yorkshire. If you’re hoping to buy something on your way back, it’s generally open until 8 pm from Thursday to Saturday. For more information go to oxfordchristmasmarket.co.uk
Look right (or hop off) to see St John’s college, which opens to the public its Front, Canterbury and
Kendrew quads and the chapel, which pre-dates the college. The chapel, with its Restoration-era chequerboard floor and wooden reredos carved by
Charles Kempe, has two windows by Hungarian artist Ervin Bossanyi.
Stained-glass fans (who could spend weeks in Oxford) should also visit Balliol College next door; more than half the chapel windows date from the 16th century and include some fabulous details, like the turquoise dragon below St Margaret of Antioch.
The spire-like Victorian gothic monument in front of St John’s commemorates the 16th-century Oxford martyrs, three Anglican bishops, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley and Thomas Cranmer, who were burned at the stake near this spot for refusing to renounce their Protestant theology.
Look left at the Martyrs’ Memorial for a view of the neoclassical Ashmolean, an extraordinary museum of historical treasures from around the world, from painted Egyptian mummy cases and Alfred the Great’s rock crystal jewel to Dutch still lives and Pre-Raphaelite masterpieces.
As the bus rolls on along the wide avenue of St Giles, look out for the venerable Eagle and Child pub on the left, where the Inklings, a literary discussion group that included J.R.R. Tolkein and C.S. Lewis, used to meet in the Rabbit Room. The room is still there and lined with memorabilia.
Leafy Woodstock Road, with its cherry trees, copper beeches and large detached houses, leads north out of Oxford. Comedy legends Rowan Atkinson and Richard Curtis lived together on this road as students. The first part is lined with buildings spanning several centuries, from 12th-century St Giles’s church, just beyond the war memorial, to the award-winning postmodern buildings of St Anne’s college.
The new Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, on the left, is the University’s ambitious 21st-century extension. Don’t miss a glimpse of the observatory it’s named after, with its octagonal 18th-century Tower of the Winds.
Woodstock and Winston Churchill
The burst of countryside beyond the city affords distant views of Wytham Woods, an area of ancient woodland west of Oxford. A (second) crossing over the canal and a detour through Yarnton village bring the bus past several great country pubs into the charming old town of Woodstock.
The first stop is just outside the gates of Blenheim Palace. Two thousand acres of spectacular grounds, with bridges, woods and islands landscaped by Capability Brown, surround the baroque palace and formal gardens.
One bus stop further is the Marlborough Arms, a 15th-century coaching inn, and five minutes’ walk from here will take you to the Oxfordshire Museum. The museum is
inside a big 18th-century house, with the old town stocks outside and explores aspects of the county’s history from Saxon jewellery to wood-bodging and glove-making. It has an annual exhibition of work by the Oxfordshire Craft Guild running from mid-November to late
December. Five years ago, the county’s only military museum, Soldiers of Oxfordshire, opened in the grounds to collect and tell the stories behind the local regiments, the soldiers’ families and more.
Over the road from the museums, have a look at St Mary Magdalene’s church, built for medieval royalty. Walk round to the south side, furthest away from the road, to see the
Norman doorway, with a characteristic zigzag pattern in the stonework round the edge, and go inside to see two hundred hand-embroidered kneelers, part of a centuries-long local tradition of fine textiles. Some of them show local landmarks, like the stocks.
If you happen to be visiting at 9 am, 1 pm, 5 pm or 9 pm, listen out for the church clock, which plays a different tune for each day of the week.
If you’re not visiting Blenheim, you might want to stroll down picturesque Park Street to see the Woodstock
Gate, a triumphal limestone arch, designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor in 1723. From the gate, there is a panoramic view across the Queen
Pool and John Vanbrugh’s Grand Bridge to the palace.
The S3 leaves again from the Marlborough Arms; one bus an hour heads for Chipping Norton, passing some classic Oxfordshire views and villages along the way, starting with the hilly streets and quaint cottages of Old Woodstock. Look out for glimpses of the little River Glyme, which was dammed to produce the lakes at Blenheim.
Pubs and pantomimes
Known as “Chippy” by the locals, Chipping Norton has been a market town since the 13th century and grew rich on the wool trade, leaving a huge, beautiful church and chimneyed local tweed mill (now converted into luxury flats). Its more recent reputation as a hub for media types and politicians belies the town’s friendly, down-toearth atmosphere.
Like Woodstock, Chippy is full of independent cafés, from the elegant Tea Set (theteaset.co.uk) to the Old Mill coffee house conveniently close to the bus stop (theoldmillcoffeehouse. co.uk). There are plenty of cosy pubs too, like The Blue Boar, perfect for sitting by the log fire with a pint.
Cosiest of all is the tiny, unpretentious Red Lion on Albion Street, just up a narrow lane from the neoclassical town hall. It has games and books in the bar and serves up wood-fired pizzas and Hook Norton ales, brewed just five miles away.
You can book tours of Hook Norton brewery, which celebrates its 170th anniversary this year, and reach it on the hourly 488 bus. Go to the brewery’s website for further details. hooky.co.uk.
One of Chippy’s perennial treasures is the little theatre, famous for its Christmas pantomimes (chippingnortontheatre.com). A late Victorian Salvation Army Citadel, the striking building spent years as a
furniture warehouse before two Royal Shakespeare Company actors bought it in 1968. The actor Dudley Sutton, who died last year, regularly wrote scripts for the theatre and played the pantomime dame. This year’s Puss in Boots, running from 13 November until 12 January 2020, continues the lively tradition.
A bus ride back after dark is a good chance to see Woodstock’s Christmas lights and Oxford’s spectacular illuminated colleges, the centuries-old stones shining warmly in the festive glow.