Destinations Archives

The faun next to the Narnia Door in Oxford that supposedly inspired Mr Tumnus in CS Lewis' Narnia books.

Visiting the Narnia Door, Oxford: practical guide for first-timers

The Narnia Door is an ornately carved wooden door on St Mary's Passage, Oxford — a narrow lane running between the University Church of St Mary the Virgin (High Street) and Radcliffe Square. The door is widely believed to have inspired C.S. Lewis's description of…

The Tower of the Five Orders in Oxford, South-East England.

Visiting the Tower of the Five Orders, Oxford: practical guide for first-timers

The Tower of the Five Orders is a five-storey Jacobean gatehouse tower on Catte Street, Oxford, forming the main entrance of the Old Bodleian Library's Schools Quadrangle. Completed between 1613 and 1620, it is unique in English architecture for displaying all five classical orders of…

Visiting the Saxon Tower, Oxford: practical guide for first-timers

The Saxon Tower of St Michael at the North Gate is a free-standing church tower at 32 Cornmarket Street, Oxford, dating from around 1040 AD. This makes it the oldest surviving building in Oxford and one of the oldest surviving Saxon towers in England. Visitors…

Visiting the Martyrs’ Memorial, Oxford: practical guide for first-timers

The Martyrs' Memorial is a Victorian Gothic stone monument at the junction of St Giles', Magdalen Street, and Beaumont Street in Oxford, designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott and completed in 1843. It commemorates the Protestant bishops Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, and Thomas Cranmer, burned…

The Clarendon Building in Oxford, South-East England.

Visiting the Clarendon Building, Oxford: practical guide for first-timers

The Clarendon Building is an early 18th-century Baroque building at the corner of Broad Street and Catte Street in Oxford, designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and completed in 1715. Originally built to house the Oxford University Press, it is now used as administrative offices for the…

The Divinity School in Oxford, South-East England.

Visiting the Divinity School, Oxford: practical guide for Harry Potter fans

The Divinity School is a 15th-century Gothic hall inside the Bodleian Old Library complex on Broad Street, Oxford, widely considered the finest example of late medieval Gothic architecture in England. It is the University of Oxford's oldest surviving teaching room and the first space purpose-built…

The Angel of the North near Newcastle, North-East England

Visiting the Angel of the North with children: Getting there, parking fees & what to do

The Angel of the North looks very different up close – and children will turn Antony Gormley’s colossal sculpture into a playground. Why visit the Angel of the North? Antony Gormley’s Angel of the North is perhaps the most extraordinary and beloved piece of public…

The Radcliffe Camera in Oxford, South-East England.

Visiting the Radcliffe Camera, Oxford: practical guide for first-timers

The Radcliffe Camera is an 18th-century circular library building in Radcliffe Square, Oxford, built between 1737 and 1749 as Britain's first purpose-built circular library and now forming part of the Bodleian Libraries. It is an active working library and is not open for independent public…

Visiting Convocation House, Oxford: practical guide for first-timers

Convocation House is a 17th-century ceremonial chamber inside the Old Bodleian Library complex on Broad Street, Oxford, used for over 300 years as the meeting place of the University of Oxford's governing bodies and three times as England's Parliament during the Civil War. It is…

Visiting Carfax Tower, Oxford: practical guide for first-timers

Carfax Tower (formally St Martin's Tower) is the only surviving remnant of the 12th-century St Martin's Church in Oxford. It stands at the junction of High Street, Cornmarket Street, Queen Street, and St Aldate's — the historic crossroads in the centre of the city. Visitors…