All things to doView nextThe Trout Inn→Explore the story
Food & drink / Oxford
The Perch
Thatched, 17th century, reached on foot across Port Meadow — and where Lewis Carroll read Alice aloud.
CostFree to visit
Time to allowAllow 45–90 minutes
PaceEasy
PlaceBinsey
Best timeYear-round
01 / Why it matters
More than a stop on a list.
The reward at the end of the Port Meadow walk: a thatched seventeenth-century inn in a hamlet, with a garden that makes the mile back into town feel optional.
The Perch sits in the hamlet of Binsey, across Port Meadow from Jericho and reachable on foot or by bicycle rather than easily by car — which is much of the point. The thatched building dates to at least the seventeenth century and is Grade II listed; the inn itself claims eight hundred years. Lewis Carroll walked out here from Christ Church with the Liddell children, and the Perch is named as one of the first places he read Alice aloud in public. Binsey’s treacle well, in the churchyard a short walk further on, turns up in the Dormouse’s story. It has twice burnt and twice come back — badly damaged by fire in 1977 and again in 2007, reopening in September 2008. Between 1928 and 1948 it was where Oxford students went to hear the latest jazz.
02 / The essentials
What makes it remarkable.
- 01
The thatched building dates to at least the seventeenth century; the inn claims eight hundred years.
- 02
Grade II listed.
- 03
Lewis Carroll walked here from Christ Church and gave one of the first public readings of Alice.
- 04
A jazz venue popular with students between 1928 and 1948.
- 05
Damaged by fire in 1977 and again in 2007, reopening in September 2008.
03 / The place
The building in context.
A story written in stone since 1650.
- Built
- Earliest supported date: 1650
- Style
- Historic Oxford public house
04 / Before you go
Plan it well.
Enjoy it properly.
Practical detail, separated from the story so you can scan what matters when you are ready to visit.
Tickets & entry
Free to enter; you pay for what you drink and eat. No admission charge.
Opening hours
Ordinary pub hours, which change with the season, the day and the licensee — check the pub’s own page before making a special journey. Most Oxford pubs serve food at lunchtime and in the evening rather than all day.
Continue exploring / Oxford
What will you
do next?
Compare the practical essentials first, then open the experiences that earn a place in your plans.
01Culture & history
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02Culture & historyBodleian Library guided tourExplore experience →Bodleian Library guided tourIt is a walk through centuries of scholarship and some of the finest medieval interiors in England.Time30–90 minutesCostTicketedPaceEasyExplore experience →
03Culture & historyChrist ChurchExplore experience →Christ ChurchThe only place in England where a cathedral, a Tudor dining hall and a Wren tower stand inside one foundation — with a free meadow of longhorn cattle five minutes from Carfax.Time1–3 hoursCost£22.95PaceEasyExplore experience →
04Culture & historyChrist Church CathedralExplore experience →Christ Church CathedralEngland's smallest cathedral, and the only one doubling as a college chapel — with a Norman interior, a pilgrimage shrine and Burne-Jones glass in the space of a parish church.Time30–45 minutesCost£21.83PaceEasyExplore experience →
05Culture & historyHistory of Science MuseumExplore experience →History of Science MuseumAn intimate, atmospheric collection of astrolabes, clocks and early instruments in the world's oldest surviving museum building — with Einstein's blackboard as the star draw.Time45–90 minutesCostFreePaceEasyOpeningTue–Sun 10:00–17:00Explore experience →
06Culture & historyOxford University Museum of Natural HistoryExplore experience →Oxford University Museum of Natural HistoryA soaring Victorian iron-and-glass court full of dinosaur skeletons, the famous Oxford Dodo and the site of the 1860 evolution debate — a free day out that thrills all ages.Time1–2 hoursCostFreePaceEasyOpeningDaily 10:00–17:00Explore experience →
07Culture & historyPitt Rivers MuseumExplore experience →Pitt Rivers MuseumOne of the most atmospheric museums in Britain — a dimly lit, densely packed cabinet of curiosities best explored by torch-lit browsing.Time1–2 hoursCostFreePaceEasyOpeningTue–Sun 10:00–17:00, Mon 12:00–17:00Explore experience →
08Culture & historySheldonian Theatre & cupola climbExplore experience →Sheldonian Theatre & cupola climbIt is Wren's Oxford debut and one of the few central rooftop viewpoints over the dreaming spires.Time45–60 minutesCostTicketedPaceModerateExplore experience →
09Culture & historyStephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the HumanitiesExplore experience →Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the HumanitiesOxford’s clearest expression of a 21st-century university: a public interior where contemporary architecture, Passivhaus engineering, humanities research, art and performance meet.Time45–75 minutesCostFreePaceEasyOpeningThe Centre currently opens daily, 08:00–20:00Explore experience →
10Culture & historyThe Ashmolean MuseumExplore experience →The Ashmolean MuseumA world-class free museum ranging across antiquities, European painting and Asian and Islamic art — and one of Oxford's best rainy-day plans.Time1.5–3 hoursCostFreePaceEasyOpeningDaily 10:00–17:00Explore experience →
11Culture & historyThe Weston LibraryExplore experience →The Weston LibraryThe most publicly welcoming Bodleian building, with free changing exhibitions of the library's treasures, a café and shop in the light-filled Blackwell Hall.Time30–60 minutesCostFreePaceEasyOpeningMon–Fri 09:00–17:00, Sat 10:00–17:00, Sun 11:00–16:00Explore experience →
12Culture & historyUniversity Church of St Mary the VirginExplore experience →University Church of St Mary the VirginThe best rooftop view in Oxford, from the building the University actually began in — and the only place you look down on Radcliffe Square rather than across it.Time45–60 minutesCost£7PaceModerateExplore experience →02Food & drink
13Food & drinkOxford Covered MarketExplore experience →Oxford Covered MarketThe best surviving piece of everyday historic Oxford: a Georgian market still doing its original job, hidden behind shopfronts most visitors walk straight past.Time30–90 minutesCostFreePaceEasyExplore experience →
14Food & drinkThe Bear InnExplore experience →The Bear InnThe oldest name in Oxford drinking, in a room so small the ceiling is the exhibit — thousands of club ties, clipped from their owners in exchange for a pint.Time45–90 minutesCostFreePaceEasyExplore experience →
15Food & drinkThe ChequersExplore experience →The ChequersOne of the easiest historic pubs in Oxford to walk straight past — a tall, narrow courtyard building reached down an alley off the High Street.Time45–90 minutesCostFreePaceEasyExplore experience →
16Food & drinkThe Eagle and ChildExplore experience →The Eagle and ChildThe most famous literary pub in England — and currently shut, so it is a doorway to stand outside rather than a pint to drink.Time45–90 minutesCostFreePaceEasyExplore experience →
17Food & drinkThe King’s ArmsExplore experience →The King’s ArmsThe rival claim to the Bear, and the one with better continuity — 1607 and still a proper pub rather than a restaurant or a museum piece.Time45–90 minutesCostFreePaceEasyExplore experience →
18Food & drinkThe Lamb & FlagExplore experience →The Lamb & FlagA pub that funds doctorates — St John’s takes the profits and turns them into graduate scholarships, which makes it the only round in Oxford with a footnote.Time45–90 minutesCostFreePaceEasyExplore experience →
19Food & drinkThe Trout InnExplore experience →The Trout InnThe far end of the Port Meadow walk, where the Thames splits beside a ruined abbey and a terrace hangs over the weir.Time45–90 minutesCostFreePaceEasyExplore experience →
20Food & drinkThe Turf TavernExplore experience →The Turf TavernThe hardest pub in Oxford to find and the most rewarding to stumble on — low beams, three courtyards and a stretch of the medieval city wall.Time45–90 minutesCostFreePaceEasyExplore experience →
21Food & drinkThe White HorseExplore experience →The White HorseA single narrow room wedged into Blackwell’s, licensed under four different names since 1591 and a fixture of every Inspector Morse location tour.Time45–90 minutesCostFreePaceEasyExplore experience →
22Food & drinkWestgate OxfordExplore experience →Westgate OxfordThe one place in central Oxford that will seat a group late, in the dry, with a lift to the door — and the only one with a 13th-century friary displayed under the food court.Time1–3 hoursCostFreePaceEasyExplore experience →03Walks & views
23Walks & viewsThe Bridge of SighsExplore experience →The Bridge of SighsIt is one of Oxford's signature photo stops, moments from Radcliffe Square and the Bodleian.Time5–10 minutesCostFreePaceEasyOpeningViewable 24/7 from New College Lane and Catte StreetExplore experience →
24Walks & viewsThe Radcliffe CameraExplore experience →The Radcliffe CameraIt is the single most iconic view in Oxford, framed by the Bodleian, All Souls, Brasenose and the University Church.Time10–15 minutesCostFreePaceEasyOpeningSquare open 24/7Explore experience →04Parks & meadows
25Parks & meadowsChrist Church MeadowExplore experience →Christ Church MeadowThe classic Oxford meadow walk — cattle, tree avenues and the college skyline reflected in two rivers, all a few minutes from Carfax.Time45–60 minutesCostFreePaceEasyOpeningOpen daily from around 7:00am until dusk, when the gates are lockedExplore experience →
26Parks & meadowsOxford Botanic GardenExplore experience →Oxford Botanic GardenThe oldest botanic garden in Britain, still doing the job it was endowed for in 1621: a working scientific collection where the logic of the plant kingdom is laid out to be walked.Time60–90 minutesCost£9PaceEasyOpeningDaily 10:00–18:00, last entry 17:00Explore experience →
27Parks & meadowsPort MeadowExplore experience →Port MeadowThe wildest, most open green space within walking distance of the centre — a thousand-year-old common where the city gives way to river, sky and grazing horses.Time1–2 hoursCostFreePaceEasyOpeningOpen at all timesExplore experience →
28Parks & meadowsUniversity ParksExplore experience →University ParksThe city's most beautiful managed green space — an arboretum in all but name, with cricket in summer and a river walk, minutes from the centre.Time45–90 minutesCostFreePaceEasyOpeningOpen daily from around 7:45amExplore experience →05On the water
29On the waterPunt the CherwellExplore experience →Punt the CherwellIt is the quintessential Oxford afternoon — hire a punt, pole (or be poled) along the willow-lined Cherwell, and drift down to a riverside pub.Time1–2 hoursCostTicketedPaceModerateExplore experience →06Go deeper
43CollegesAll the collegesEvery Oxford collegeOpen the college guide →Food & drink / a storyThe nine oldest pubsWalk the timeline →
Plan / Itinerary builderBuild your Oxford dayStart planning →05 / Where it is
Find it
on the map.
Drawing routeThe itinerary still works without the map.
05 / Good to know
Questions,
answered.
01How do I get there?
On foot or by bike across Port Meadow from Jericho, about a mile and a half. There is road access to Binsey but the walk is the reason to go.
02Is it connected to Alice in Wonderland?
Yes — Carroll walked out here with the Liddell children, and Binsey’s treacle well appears in the Dormouse’s story.
03Can I combine it with the Trout?
Yes. The riverside path continues north to the Trout Inn at Wolvercote, which makes a long and very pleasant afternoon.