The Thames Valley
We’ve compiled the best of the best in The Thames Valley - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
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41. St. John's College
One of Oxford's most attractive campuses, St. John's has seven quiet quadrangles surrounded by elaborately carved buildings. You enter the first through a low wooden door. This college dates to 1555, when Sir Thomas White, a merchant, founded it. His heart is buried in the chapel (it's a tradition for students to curse as they walk over it). The Canterbury Quad represented the first example of Italian Renaissance architecture in Oxford, and the Front Quad includes the buildings of the old St. Bernard's Monastery. The public are welcome to use the gardens on afternoons.
St. Giles', Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX1 3JP, England01865-277300Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
42. St. Mary's Church
With a 16th-century "checkerboard" tower, St. Mary's is a stone's throw from the bridge over the Thames. The adjacent, yellow-washed Chantry House, built in 1420, is one of England's few remaining merchant houses from the period. It's an unspoiled example of the rare timber-frame design, with upper floors jutting out. You can enjoy tea here on Sunday afternoons in the summer.
Hart St., Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire, RG9 2AU, England01491-577340Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
43. Swan-Upping
This traditional event, which dates back 800 years, takes place in Marlow during the third week of July. By bizarre ancient laws, King Charles owns every single one of the country's swans (just as his mother did before him), so each year swan-markers in skiffs start from Sunbury-on-Thames, catching the new cygnets and marking their beaks to establish ownership. The King's Swan Marker, dressed in scarlet livery, presides over this colorful ceremony.
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44. The Bodleian Library and Radcliffe Camera
A vast library, the domed Radcliffe Camera is Oxford's most spectacular building, built in 1737–49 by James Gibbs in Italian baroque style. It's usually surrounded by tourists with cameras trained at its golden-stone walls. The Camera contains part of the Bodleian Library's enormous collection, begun in 1602 and one of six "copyright libraries" in the United Kingdom. Like the Library of Congress in the United States, this means it must by law contain a copy of every book printed in Great Britain. In addition, the Bodleian is a vast repository for priceless historical documents—including a Gutenberg Bible and a Shakespeare First Folio. The collection continues to grow by more than 5,000 items a week. Tours reveal the magnificent Duke Humfrey's Library, which was the original chained library, completed in 1488 (the ancient tomes are dusted once a decade) as well as the spots used to create Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films. Arrive early to secure tickets for the three to six daily tours. The standard tours can be prebooked, as can the extended tours on Wednesday and Saturday; otherwise, tours are first-come, first-served. Audio tours don't require reservations. Tours don't run when private events are being hosted at the venue.
Broad St., Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX1 3BG, England01865-287400Sight Details
Rate Includes: From £9, Sometimes closed for events; call to confirm -
45. University Church of St. Mary the Virgin
Seven hundred years' worth of funeral monuments crowd this galleried and spacious church, including the altar-step tombstone of Amy Robsart, the wife of Robert Dudley, who was Elizabeth I's favorite suitor. One pillar marks the site where Thomas Cranmer, Anglican author of The Book of Common Prayer, was brought to trial for heresy by Queen Mary I (Cranmer had been a key player in the Protestant reforms). He was later burned at the stake nearby on Broad Street. The top of the 14th-century tower has a panoramic view of the city's skyline—it's worth the 127 steps. The Vaults and Garden café, part of the church accessible from Radcliffe Square, serves breakfasts and cream teas as well as good lunches.
High St., Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX1 4BJ, England01865-279111Sight Details
Rate Includes: Church free, tower £5 -
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46. Verulamium Museum
With exhibits on everything from food to burial practices, the Verulamium Museum, on the site of the ancient Roman city, explores life 2,000 years ago. The re-created Roman rooms contain colorful mosaics that are some of the finest in Britain. Every second weekend of the month, "Roman soldiers" invade the museum and demonstrate the skills of the Imperial Army.
St. Michael's St., St. Albans, Hertfordshire, AL3 4SW, England01727-751810Sight Details
Rate Includes: £6 -
47. Verulamium Park Hypocaust
Adjacent to the Verulamium Museum, this park contains the usual—playground, wading pool, lake—and the unusual—Roman ruins that include part of the town hall and a hypocaust, or central-heating system. The hypocaust dates to AD 200 and included one of the first heated floors in Britain. Brick columns supported the floor, and hot air from a nearby fire was drawn underneath the floor to keep bathers warm.
St. Michael's St., St. Albans, Hertfordshire, AL3 4SW, England01727-751810Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free, Hypocaust Apr.–Sept., Mon.–Sat. 10–4:30, Sun. 2–4:30; Oct.–Mar., Mon.–Sat. 10–3:45, Sun. 2–3:45; last admission 30 min before closing. -
48. White Horse Hill and Uffington Castle
Stretching up into the foothills of the Berkshire Downs between Swindon and Oxford is a wide fertile plain known as the Vale of the White Horse. Here, off B4507, cut into the turf of the hillside to expose the underlying chalk, is the 374-foot-long, 110-foot-high figure of a white horse (known as the the Uffington White Horse), an important prehistoric site. Some historians believed that the figure might have been carved to commemorate King Alfred's victory over the Danes in 871, whereas others date it to the Iron Age, around 750 BC. More current research suggests that it’s at least 1,000 years older, created at the beginning of the second millennium BC. Uffington Castle, above the horse, is a prehistoric fort. English Heritage maintains these sites. To reach the Vale of the White Horse from Oxford (about 20 miles), follow A420, then B4508 to the village of Uffington.
Dragon Hill Rd., Oxfordshire, SN7 7QJ, England01793-762209Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free
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