Green Oxford: Glimpses of public and private leafy locations

In this video Rob Walters, your Oxford guide, provides glimpses of some of the green expanses and leafy corners of Oxford. He explores the University Parks, Port Meadow, Christ Church Meadow, college gardens such as Magdalen, New, Wolfson, Christ Church, and Worcester. Also he portrays Oxford’s secret bathing spots, and finishes off with cemeteries: the peaceful green resting places of some of its famous writers including JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, and Kenneth Grahame
He starts with the greening of Broad Street, that short thoroughfare which is overlooked by Balliol, Trinity and Exeter Colleges and terminated by the University grouping of the Sheldonian Theatre, Clarendon Building, and the Indian Institute. This is followed by the University Parks with its wondrous collection of trees, shrubs, flower borders and open grassland.
The Parks are bounded to the east by the tree-lined River Cherwell which delights punters and will take them south to Parson’s Pleasure where University men used to swim naked. Beyond Parson’s Pleasure is Dame’s Delight where the ladies swam more decorously.
Upstream is the gracefully arching Rainbow Bridge which provides excellent views of the Cherwell with a glimpse of Lady Margaret Hall and further upstream we see the Cherwell Boat House where anyone can hire a punt and pole lazily along the river. On the eastern side of the river it’s possible to walk through swathes of undeveloped land to the very popular Victoria Arms at Old Marston with its large front garden sloping down to the river offering a welcome stop for thirsty punters.
Across the Wolfson bridge we can see that the college gardens certainly add to the greenness of Oxford, and that’s followed by a walk through the tree-lined streets of North Oxford to the Trap Grounds, an oasis bounded by the canal and railway track yet containing the only wild and undeveloped land on the western edge of the city. Though small it boasts a variety of green habitats and flora and fauna.
Next is the vast Port Meadow stretching all the way up to Wolvercote and where horses and cattle graze. At Godstow, an Oxford don called Lewis Carroll told stories which led to the writing of Alice in Wonderland.
In winter Port Meadow is home to a large variety of water birds including: swans, ducks, and seabirds, and is a popular spot for picnickers during the summer. The Thames has a spur here called the Castle Mill Stream and this junction is a popular swimming location for wild bathers and, sometimes, trashed students. The main river then flows on to the south of the city before forming the southern end of Christ Church Meadow which is countryside personified with its long horned cattle grazing the lush grass and a long avenue of lime trees leading from the river to the Meadow Gate of this grandiose college of Christ Church with its historic and filming associations, including the dining hall copied for the Harry Potter films.
Nearby is the Botanic Gardens, a 17th century physics garden and is the oldest in Great Britain with some 5,000 varieties of plants on display. It is overlooked by Magdalen College which has some striking buildings, but also one of the most beautiful and certainly the most extensive gardens. These are entered through the tree-lined Addison’s Walk beside a branch of the River Cherwell and containing the deer park which is unique to Magdalen and an excellent source of venison. Further on is the water meadow: an area famed for its snake-head fritillaries, and further still leads to the Magdalen Fellows’ Garden.
Worcester College has a very green main quad and extensive lakes. Its garden borders the Oxford canal to the west and shares wildlife with it including otters, deer and birdlife.
New College has a garden bordered by the old Oxford City Wall and an interesting green mound which is tree covered.
South Park is a beautiful green space of itself but what makes it very special is the very good view that it affords of the city and its wonderful dreaming spires so aptly named by the poet Mathew Arnold.
Cemeteries provide many green spaces and Holywell Cemetery is the most central. It is secreted just beyond St Cross Church. The author of Wind in the Willows is buried here with his son, Alastair, who took his own life whilst a student of Christ Church and just 20 years old.
Wolvercote Cemetery’s Roman Catholic section contains the grave of JRR Tolkien, a grave that also contains the remains of his wife, Edith. Fans of this great writer leave gifts and notes behinds them.
In The Headington Quarry area lies the Holy Trinity church with its Narnia window. CS Lewis worshipped here and he is buried in the green and shady churchyard. Lewis lived nearby in a house called the Kilns and his large and wooded garden has now become the CS Lewis Nature