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City & Village Tours: 0845 812 5000 info@cityandvillagetours.com
ONE TO DO ON YOUR OWN
Oxford & The Bodleian Library
Forming the historic heart of the University of Oxford
The Bodleian Library is a working library where some
of the brightest students in the UK come to study. It’s
not a lending library so readers must somehow ignore
the heady magnificence of their surroundings and
concentrate on their research. Recently the library has
featured in the Harry Potter films and I am betting that
even the frowstiest of academics allows themselves a
slight grin now and again at that thought.
You can wander through the quadrangles but, excepting
the shop and Exhibition Room, admission to the interior
of the buildings is charged for. There are no toilets for
visitors, the closest public facilities are 300m away so it
is best to organise a morning comfort stop and a cup of
coffee to revive the grey matter before arriving for your
tour. You must leave all bags, including handbags, in
secure lockers for the duration of your tour. All visits
involve at least one long staircase and there is no lift.
There are no group or senior citizen concessions.
Group options which should be booked in advance are:
Self guided audio-tour
£2.50pp (max 40 people, 40 minutes)
Divinity School
, No guide £1.00pp (max 50 people, 30 mins)
Standard Tour
with guide £6.50pp (max 52 people, 60 mins)
Extended Tour
with guide, £13.00pp (
max 52 people
,
90 mins)
The best option for our sort of groups (the mind is
willing but the flesh is weak!) is the one hour Standard
Tour, despite its underwhelming name.
The Extended Tour is “an awful lot of steps
”.
The Standard Tour includes the Divinity School (1488
– 455 carved bosses in an elaborately vaulted ceiling),
the 17
th
century Convocation house where Parliament
was held during the Civil War, the Chancellors Court
Room and Duke Humfrey’s Library (pictured) where
past readers include 25 British Prime Ministers. The
tour is available daily but groups cant book for July or
August. Book in advance and they’ll take up to 26 peo-
ple at one time slot (with two guides) but they will take
a second batch at another time slot, so a maximum of
52 people. I’d suggest making sure you have refresh-
ments before arriving in Oxford (we always find the
Services at Wheatley useful for Oxford visits, dull but
practical for a visit with strict timings). You could
book the 11.30am and 2.00pm timeslots which on
Monday to Saturdays in 2013 will include new audio
technology with an earpiece to listen to the guide
which might be fun to try.
The only way to get all of the group through in the
morning is by booking the 10.30am slot for those
willing to set out before dawn. The other daily time
slot is 1.00pm, otherwise known as lunchtime!
Group bookings: Call 01865 287 400
It would make for a good day to book the Bodleian but
leave the remainder of the day for private exploration.
Individuals are welcome to visit Brasenose College in
the afternoon for an entrance charge of £1.50 per per-
son – just report to the main gate. Further information