Christ Church Meadow, Oxford (must see)

If it is a nice day and you don’t feel like having lunch in one of Oxford’s many excellent restaurants, why not take a picnic out to Christ Church Meadow, which is open to the public every day until sunset.

This roughly triangular-shaped stretch of land is a flood-meadow, which differs from a water-meadow which is man-made. The Meadow is bordered by the River Thames, called the Isis, the River Cherwell and Christ Church, which owns and maintains the land.

The upper part of the Meadow is given over to sports fields, while cattle graze for much of the year on the lower section. Deer are also brought here in the summer and autumn months.

Where the two rivers meet there is a small island on which stand several boathouses. Oxford’s Torpids bumping races are held here in March, and the Eights Week Regatta takes place in May.

You can see a plaque dedicated to James Sadler, who, in 1784, became the first Englishman to go up in a hot air balloon from the Meadow.

There are three entrances to the Meadow: one through the Memorial Gardens on Saint Aldate’s; a gate on Merton Street between Corpus Christi and Merton Colleges and the third, a gate at the eastern end next to the Botanical Garden. You are asked to please observe the rules on the notice boards outside each entrance.