Discover your countryside: Oxfordshire

ANCIENT LANDSCAPE: Step back beyond Stonehenge

Oxfordshire is home to prehistoric sites that pre-date Stonehenge. 

The Rollright Stones and the chambered tomb at Wayland’s Smithy are reminders that people have been living in, travelling through and shaping this landscape for thousands of years. 

LONG-DISTANCE WALK: Walk all the way around Oxford’s Green Belt

Did you know you can walk the entire Oxford Green Belt Way? 

Created by CPRE Oxfordshire, the 50-mile route circles the city along public footpaths, with views of Oxford’s famous ‘dreaming spires’ along the way. 

The route passes historic villages and countryside including Foxcombe Hill, Otmoor and Wytham Woods, as well as stretches of the River Thames near Abingdon and the Oxford Canal north of the city. 

LOCAL TRADITION: Wassail the apple trees

For a very different countryside experience, Nemone Caldwell from CPRE Oxfordshire recommends the annual wassail at Brightwell-cum-Sotwell in South Oxfordshire. 

Held around Twelfth Night, the revived tradition brings the community together to scare away Jack Frost and bless the village’s apple trees for the coming year – complete with a mummers’ play and Morris dancers. 

The tradition was revived around 20 years ago and now attracts hundreds of visitors.