2 Adults and 5 college students will be visiting the northern Cotswolds on an all-day tour with Cotswolds-Roaming, concluding at 5:30 pm in Oxford. We found a private guide who will take us on a 2 hour walking tour HOWEVER he mentioned that the Colleges will be closed at that time. Is it worth taking a tour if the colleges are closed? Or should we just hit a pub and hope to get a sense of poets and dreamers?
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33823 posts
Certainly by that time all the Colleges will be closed, and if it is late enough in the year that dusk is at 5:30 there won't be a lot to see as you walk around. Surely after wandering around the Cotswold hills and villages all day some of the 7 of you will be feeling tired and may be underwhelmed at another 2 hour tour. Visiting Colleges is a big part of the ambiance of Oxford and if you miss that you miss a lot. If you were there a different day I want make sure that you know that you don't need a guide to visit them, just be there in the afternoon not during exams, and a couple of pounds for the admissions and you just walk in. Perhaps just wandering around with a good map and a bit of preparation that evening would give you enough of a feeling of the place. Make sure you look around some of the best places, such as: Oriel Street Deadmans Walk Queens Lane
Radcliffe Camera area.
Posted by
Gig Harbor, Washington, USA
1862 posts
If you visit the Eagle and Child pub in Oxford you can sit where Tolkien sat-some of your students might like that idea.