Most of my walks are for pre-booked tours (starting at £50 inclusive for up to 20/24 people). However, if you as an individual, or as part of a small group, would like to come on a Christ Church Meadow ‘Alice in Waterland’ walk, do please still feel free to get in touch at towpathpress@btopenworld.com, as it may be that you can join others in a similar situation or join a pre-booked larger group. Or, for £30 for up to five people (lasting 90 minutes or so), you can suit yourself as to start time time and exact route.
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ALICE’S DAY WALKS – Sat 1 JULY – tickets £3
Alice in Waterland Walk – 10am and 11.30am from Museum of Oxford, Oxford Town Hall, St Aldate’s, OX1 1BX
http://www.experienceoxfordshire.org/shop/tickets/tours/alices-day-walks-waterland/
A leisurely near-circular walk of 75 minutes around beautiful Christ Church Meadow. The route will follow waterside paths familiar to the real Alice and Lewis Carroll to highlight in particular the all-important role of the River Thames in the creation of Alice’s Adventures.
Beginning at the Museum of Oxford, where various items of Alice memorabilia are on display, the route will reveal some of the real people, places, and events which inspired the story, as well as other Oxford classics of fantasy literature. Please note that as this walk is designed primarily for adults there will be no charge for primary-age children. Group size is limited to 24 persons.
Alice’s Parks and Pleasure Walk – 2.30pm and 4.30pm from Visitor Information Centre, Broad Street, OX1 3AS
http://www.experienceoxfordshire.org/shop/tickets/tours/alices-day-walks-parks/
A 90-minute walk through some of the less visited, quieter parts of the city, via the resting place of two Hatters, through University Parks (Pleasure and Delight guaranteed!), to end at ‘loveliest building of the plain’, the University Museum of Natural History. The route will reveal some of the real people, places, and events which inspired the story, as well as referencing some other Oxford classics of children’s literature. The 4.30pm walk will include above, but end at the Botanic Garden.
Please note that as this walk is designed primarily for adults there will be no charge for accompanied primary-age children. Group size is limited to 20 persons. The Museum will be closed for the day by the time of arrival of the later walk.
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SUNDAY 2 JULY – Alice’s Everything (is so strange today) Tour
11am from 83 Alice’s Shop, St Aldate’s, OX1 1RA (ending at Museum of Natural History)
2pm from the Museum of Natural History, Parks Road, OX1 3PW (ending at Alice’s Shop)
“It doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cheshire Cat. “So long as I get somewhere,” said Alice … “Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
A new extended tour of Alice’s Oxford with local historian and author Mark Davies, the only Oxford guide endorsed by the Lewis Carroll Society. Combining two previously discrete circular walks, this two-hour plus tour will encompass most of the Oxford locations of greatest significance to Lewis Carroll and the real Alice, daughter of the Dean of Christ Church, as well as referencing other Oxford classics of fantasy literature.
Starting at either Alice’s Shop (look for the Sheep!) in St Aldates (morning) or the University Museum of Natural History (look for the Dodo!) in Parks Road (afternoon), the near three-mile linear route will pass through some less visited, quieter parts of the city, incorporating a mixture of ancient, modern, and semi-rural landscapes.
Passing alongside the River Thames (all-important in the creation of the story of Alice’s Adventures) and the Cherwell, past Christ Church and other key landmarks (including the ‘loveliest building of the plain’), via the resting place of two Hatters, and through University Parks (Pleasure and Delight guaranteed!), many of the real people, places, and events which inspired the story will be revealed by the author of Alice in Waterland and Alice’s Oxford on Foot.
Tickets: £7.50 – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/mark-davies-oxford-water-walks-wwwoxfordwaterwalkscouk-3311481234
Please note that as this walk is designed primarily for adults there will be no charge for accompanied primary-age children. Group size is limited to 20 persons.
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Monday 3 JULY – ‘ODE TO OXFORD’ TALK – OXFORD FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS – Magdalen College School – 8pm
An alternative history of Oxford inspired by poets, novelists, and diarists across the centuries. From Chaucer’s pilgrims to Jerome’s Three Men, via the children’s classics of Alice – one day after the anniversary of the date the story was invented – and Wind in the Willows, and more recent ‘gyptians’ of Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials, this literary tour of Oxford’s waterways will reveal many attractive, unusual, and sometimes controversial aspects of ‘river-rounded’ Oxford.
http://www.artsfestivaloxford.org/whats-on/speakers-1/mark-davies-an-ode-to-oxford. Tickets: £2/£8/£10
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Thurs 3 AUGUST – OXFORD BOTANIC GARDEN History & Literary Walk – 6pm
A historical wander through a botanical wonder
Oxford’s Botanic Garden is the oldest in Britain, and third oldest in Europe. This one-hour walk will concentrate on some of the more unusual and tangential uses to which the Garden has been put in its 400-year history. Hear about the Garden’s first superintendent, Jacob Bobart, known as ‘the German Prince of Plants’, and his colourful descendants; learn about some of Britain’s earliest hot-air balloon launches made from the Garden by Oxford’s very own first English aeronaut, the pastry cook James Sadler; and discover the Garden’s associations with Lewis Carroll and other notable writers.
Tickets: £15
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ALICE IN WATERLAND WALK: Saturday 26 AUGUST at 11am
A leisurely near-circular walk of 75/90 minutes around beautiful Christ Church Meadow. The route will follow waterside paths familiar to the real Alice and Lewis Carroll to highlight in particular the all-important role of the River Thames in the creation of Alice’s Adventures.
Beginning at the Museum of Oxford, where various items of Alice memorabilia are on display, the route will reveal some of the real people, places, and events which inspired the story, as well as other Oxford classics of fantasy literature. Please note that as this walk is designed primarily for adults there will be no charge for primary-age children. Group size is limited to 24 persons.
Tickets: £6.
https://aliceinwaterland26august.eventbrite.co.uk
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