My husband’s birthday is at the start of December and I never normally know what to get him, but this year I had a plan. Months ago he had mentioned that there was going to be an exhibition of John Le Carré’s personal papers in Oxford and so I decided to book us a weekend in Oxford as a birthday present for him. We often go away in December for a Christmas market weekend somewhere abroad but didn’t have anything planned for this year, so this was a lovely little pre-Christmas getaway.
We had been to Oxford briefly once before on the way to a glamping site located not too far from Witney. It was mainly a stop-off en route for food though and so as a result, we didn’t do much in the way of sightseeing. Although, in fairness, we didn’t have a lot of sightseeing planned for this trip. Our main plan was to see the exhibition, go for dinner and generally just soak up the atmosphere.
It wasn’t a total surprise for my husband, I told him before booking of the plan and we decided that rather than spend a lot of money on a hotel room (all of those in the centre seemed to be coming out at £300+), we’d go with a Premier Inn and spend money instead on lovely food. We stayed at the Premier Inn Westgate, which was brilliantly located for both the train station, the city centre and Westgate shopping centre (which was literally across the road).
After arriving around midday and dropping off our bags, our plan was to head to the Weston Library, where the Le Carré exhibition was being held.
We meandered up through town in the direction of the Weston Library, passing the iconic Radcliffe Camera on the way. As we were peeping through the gates of All Souls College a passer-by struck up conversation with us. It turned out that he was a member of the academic faculty and from where we stood he pointed out a number of buildings and told us their respective ages and told us about things that we never would have clocked by ourselves. Like that opposite the side door of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin (on the South side of the Radcliffe Camera building) is a door to Brasenose College that is said to have been seen by C.S. Lewis as he exited the church and which allegedly inspired him to create the characters of Mr Tumnus the fawn and Aslan the lion from the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Chatting with our new acquaintance, he asked whether we had seen the Harry Potter films (we have) and asked whether we would like to see one of the filming locations – of course! He guided us there via the so called Bridge of Sighs, which connects two parts of Hertford College and unlike Venice’s Bridge of Sighs which was said to be the last point where condemned prisoners could see the beautiful city of Venice before being taken to execution, the sighs are now more likely to be of relief that exams are over.
After chatting about architecture and planning restrictions that restrict buildings over three storeys (forcing colleges to go underground), films, and admissions, our new friend led us to the courtyard of the Bodleian Library where we paused as he pointed out some features, and into the Divinity School. The Divinity School is the University’s oldest purpose-built teaching and examination room and it served as the infirmary and the room for the Yule Ball dance practice in Harry Potter. No photos because we were too busy chatting but if you know, you know, or you can watch the films.
We parted across from the Weston Library, thanking him profusely for the impromptu tour. Although just as we turned to go he called after us, handed us a lottery scratch card and disappeared back into Oxford. We didn’t exchange names and so he remains our Oxford guardian angel, or fae being. The sort of person that only appears in travel journalism that you never believe really exists, but who apparently actually does.
We didn’t win anything on the scratch card, but we did resolve to be more accommodating of London’s tourists, because one chance encounter can really make a trip.
The John Le Carré: Tradecraft exhibition is a free unticketed exhibition of Le Carré’s archive of material that takes you through his career and works, with each display cabinet relating to a book and containing things like photographs, letters, marked-up manuscripts etc. There are also fun surprising things, like some gorgeously simple but full-of-heart illustrations of bears. It isn’t a large exhibition but it’s well-worth a visit if you’re a fan or are just in the area – it’s on until 6 April 2026.
We lunched at the Covered Market, perhaps the most middle-class indoor market we’ve ever been to. Indoor markets that we are familiar with tend to be much more down at the heel affairs. This one contains all sorts of lovely food stalls and restaurants, gift shops, and other shops, together with places to sit and eat. As it was the run-up to Christmas, at the heart of the market was a selection of Christmas foliage to buy, including wreaths and mistletoe (which we may have paused beneath for a little kiss).
We spent the afternoon wandering and popping our heads into colleges before heading back to our hotel room to check-in and have an hour or two before dinner.
For dinner I had booked a late table at tapas restaurant Arbequina, in part on the strength of a Marina O’Loughlin review. We have been to a number of restaurants recommended by her and she hasn’t led us wrong yet. Our dinner at Arbequina was no exception. We had a fantastic meal of tapas plates, including bread (served warm and pillowy soft) with harissa and aioli, onion tortilla, aubergine with whipped feta, molasses and pomegranate, confit leek with crispy leek, purée, ash and black garlic alioli, patatas bravas and a crispy chickpea salad served with chilli butter and yoghurt (absolutely the star of the show for us).
We finished with the burnt Basque cheesecake served with Pedro Ximenez sherry soaked raisins, accompanied by two glasses of sherry.
Full and slightly fuzzy around the edges from a few cocktails, we fell into bed and slept like the dead.
The next morning my husband decided to have a lie-in, seeing that the morning was a bright one, I headed out for a morning stroll around the city to see it before the shops opened and the tourists and pre-Christmas shoppers descended.
I picked up pastries and hot drinks on my way back to the hotel and we ate them in bed before checking out at midday.
We spent the afternoon shopping for Christmas presents for our teenage and pre-teen niece.
There was a small Christmas market on when we visited. It only took up two small sections of one of the streets, but we had a wander through.
We finished the day with a very brief visit to the Ashmolean Museum, where we knew we wouldn’t get to see too much, so we picked a few rooms on the third floor to see the most modern of their pieces – by Sickert and his contemporaries, Pissarro and others. Next time we visit we’ll definitely spend more time there and see a bit more. The same holds true for Oxford generally. This was very much a trip where we dipped our toe into what was on offer and next time we visit (which we will, because it’s only an hour’s train from London), we’ll be a bit more organised with a plan, but just wandering and taking it all in worked for us for this trip.
We had such a lovely time in Oxford and a little bit of me wished I could have been a student there. Sadly the below sign represents the only education Oxford would have likely allowed me to have.
