Media

#ConnectWithNature this Mental Health Awareness Week

Oxford City Council is marking Mental Health Awareness Week by encouraging residents to #ConnectWithNature. Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW) is a national campaign hosted by the Mental Health Foundation that takes place between Monday 10 and Sunday 16 May. The campaign encourages participants to start conversations about their mental health and what they can do…

Oxford Bus Company and City Sightseeing Introduce New All-Female Tourism Management Team

Oxford Bus Company and its sister company City Sightseeing have created a revamped tourism management team across both companies to help drive the visitor economy. The trio of Jane Marshall, Clarisse Garcia and Val Tachy form the all-female team created to ensure visitors to Oxford receive a world class welcome. The focus will be on…

Oxford Official Walking Tours Launch New Website

Oxford Official Walking Tours, operated by Experience Oxfordshire the Destination Management Organisation (DMO) for Oxfordshire, are thrilled to announce the launch of their new website www.oxfordoffocialwalkingtours.org. With updated tours and an easy booking platform the website is designed to enhance the user experience and to simplify the booking process. Throughout the pandemic there has been a big shift in people booking in advance online and the website has been designed to make it easy for people…

Blenheim Estate Invites Tenders For Long Term Partnership on Arable Land

The Blenheim Estate in Oxfordshire is inviting farmers to tender for c.1,100 acres (445ha) of arable farmland as it implements its ground-breaking land strategy. Successful farmers will be offered lengthy 10-year agreements to create long-term relationships, allowing both landlord and tenant to share the positive outcomes of a new approach to efficient, sustainable food production,…

Furlough Courses Allow Blenheim Staff to Flourish in Lockdown

Blenheim has been supporting its furloughed staff and those having to work from home by funding online training courses of their choice. The aim of the courses, which include everything from dog grooming and floristry to sports massage, game design, Spanish, German, music and accountancy, is to keep employees active and engaged throughout lockdown. The…

Artist Adds Finishing Touches to Lifelike Churchill Waxwork

Colour and hair artist Sue Day adds the final touches to a waxwork of Sir Winston Churchill, ahead of the opening of a major new exhibition on ‘the greatest Briton’, which opens at Blenheim Palace next month. The life-size figure will take pride of place in the new exhibition dedicated to Churchill’s lifelong association…

MP Officiates as 1897-built Locomotive Gets Back on Track

MP David Johnston OBE, whose Wantage constituency includes Didcot Railway Centre visited the popular tourist attraction on Saturday 1 May to officiate at a short ceremony to mark the return to service of the oldest working locomotive at the Loving Musuem, No. 1340 “Trojan” which dates from 1897. The diminutive locomotive was returning to…

City Council encourages Oxford residents to celebrate May Morning at home and online

This year Oxford City Council, alongside Magdalen College, encourages residents to celebrate Oxford’s traditional May Morning at home and online. Celebrated since the early 16th century, May Morning has traditionally been held at Magdalen Tower with thousands of attendees celebrating in the streets below. However, on Saturday 1 May 2021 outdoor gatherings of more than…

Experience Oxfordshire Announces the Launch of ‘The Oxfordshire Hospitality Guide’ to Support Local Businesses

For immediate release: 29/04/2021 Experience Oxfordshire Announces the Launch of ‘The Oxfordshire Hospitality Guide’ to Support Local Businesses Experience Oxfordshire, the Destination Management Organisation (DMO) for Oxfordshire, has today announced they will be launching a new publication to help support hospitality businesses as we come out of national lockdown. The Oxfordshire Hospitality Guide will showcase…

Blenheim Pilots New Social Prescription Programme

Blenheim is piloting a new ‘social prescription’ programme aimed at addressing the mental distress, social isolation and physical inactivity caused by lockdown. The six-week programme will see a group of volunteers take part in two-hour walks and mindfulness activities around the Oxfordshire estate. Overall the project’s aim is to increase the participants, wellbeing by engaging…

Palace Adds Extra Horsepower To New Stables Exhibition

A model recreation of Winston Churchill’s childhood pony is among a series of equestrian displays to feature in a major new exhibition in Blenheim Palace’s historic stable block, which opens next month. The pony, Rob Roy, was first ridden by a seven-year-old Churchill in April 1882, during a stay at Blenheim. The future wartime leader…

Oxford businesses able to apply for coronavirus restart support grant

Businesses in Oxford are now able to apply for the latest lockdown support grants aimed at supporting businesses as they reopen to the public. In line with the Government’s roadmap, non-essential shops as well as hairdressers, leisure, and gyms have been able to reopen from 12 April. Hospitality businesses have also been allowed to reopen…

Oxford City Council helps cafes, restaurants and bars to open more outdoor seating areas

Oxford City Council is working with hospitality businesses to help them provide outside seating areas so they can reopen. Businesses in Turl Street, Ship Street and Park End Street, and on Cowley Road are among the latest to explore introducing outdoor seating, and more are expected in the coming weeks. In line with the Government’s…

‘Opening Up Oxfordshire’

Experience Oxfordshire, the Destination Management Organisation (DMO) for Oxfordshire welcomed the announcement this week by The Prime Minister, Boris Jonson, that England will move to step 2 of its roadmap on Monday 12 April. This means that outdoor hospitality venues such as pubs and restaurants will be able to reopen for outdoor service and non-essential retail, gyms and hairdressers will also re-open. …

New customer friendly facilities unveiled at Seacourt Park & Ride

A raft of brand-new customer friendly facilities have been opened at Seacourt Park & Ride to help welcome people back onto services. It includes toilets, an enclosed waiting area and digital information screens which provide real-time journey information. The car park capacity has also been increased by 595 spaces taking the number of spaces for…

Giant Hat Tree Caps Off New Exhibition in Palace’s Historic Stables

Work is nearing completion on a major new exhibition highlighting the crucial role horses have played throughout Blenheim Palace’s history. The new feature is set within the Palace’s ornate stable block and is part of a series of new features set to open at the Oxfordshire UNESCO World Heritage Site later this year as part…

JACKfm supports Ronald MCDonald House Oxford with two-day radiothon

Thursday 8 April 2021, Oxford: JACKfm, the most awarded local commercial radio station in UK radio history, can today announce that it will be supporting Ronald McDonald House Charities UK through the launch of a two-day Radiothon, which will take place on the 1 and 2 July 2021. For two days Oxfordshire’s JACKfm, alongside…

The Oxford Tube has returned with a brand new app and fleet

Brand new ticket app providing coach tracking and estimated arrival times Complete fleet upgrade following £13m investment into new coaches Oxford Tube service has returned to a 7 day operation It’s all systems go following the Oxford Tube’s return to service last week with a brand new ticket and journey planning app live in the…

Hook Norton Brewery Shire Horses back delivering beer

The Oxfordshire roads around Hook Norton will once again ring out to the sound of the heavy footfall of the Shire Horse this week as the brewery re-starts its horse-drawn deliveries this week. Due to the various lockdown restrictions, it has been almost 2 years since Commander and Lucas visited the local pubs in…

City Sightseeing Oxford and Park& Ride 300 services return

Oxford’s open-top bus tour and Park & Ride 300 service will return on 12th April, in a boost to the city’s bounce back from lockdown. The popular City Sightseeing Oxford tour will operate every half an hour on Mondays to Thursdays and every 20 minutes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The attraction is a key part…

easyJet launches new routes from Birmingham this summer with five new European beach destinations

easyJet and easyJet holidays have confirmed today that new routes and package holidays to popular European destinations across Spain, Portugal, and Greece from Birmingham Airport will launch from 29 June Great value fares are still available for UK travellers to enjoy a well-deserved and much-anticipated summer getaway Flexible booking policies, including the Protection Promise, mean…