University Parks

The 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.

The University Parks are about 70 acres of open parkland owned and run by the University of Oxford, laid out from 1864 and opened to the public in 1865. Unlike the ancient common of Port Meadow, the Parks are carefully kept: broad mown lawns, gravel paths, a duck pond, and one of the best collections of trees in the city, many of them labelled, from towering redwoods to a champion black walnut. The River Cherwell forms the eastern boundary, with a riverside walk leading towards the Rainbow Bridge and Mesopotamia. At the centre is the University cricket ground, where first-class matches are played in summer — one of the few grounds in the country where they are free to watch. The Parks are a short walk north of the Bodleian and the science area, free to enter, and open daily from morning until dusk.