The City of Oxford Overview Oxford is known as the "City of Spires" most of which belong to the university. The colleges lie within fairly easy walking distance from the city centre and are some of the best preserved architectual treasures of Britain. Some of these colleges you are able to take a guided tour through, highly recommended if you are interested in history.There is an air of antiquity about the city; a lasting quality that the more things change, the more the city will remain what it always has been; one of the great centres of European learning. The cities brilliantly covered market selling anything from venison to Versace; visit the Nose Bag for coffee, and explore Broad Street and any of the cobbled streets off it like Turls Street, Gloucester Green double as the city bus station and abudding piazza Covent-Garden style. All this before you even mention any of the famous Colleges. Oxford features heavily throughout the Inspector Morse series on television, acted by John Thaw. The author is a resident of the city as was Morse himself, it is used as locations for the famous detective. As a result it was only natural that it would be used as the backdrop for the television series.
The other television series; Midsomer Murders are frequent visitors to the county. It is interesting to note, that the City features in roughly ten other episodes. Other landmarks for the series are; Bars in Oxford, including The Plough pub, Great Haseley, the Botanic Gardens, the Corn Exchange and Wallingford, are just a few of the numerous locations of pubs and bars to be found in the county. Oxfordshire is a gently undulating county which some classify as the South Midlands of England, although in my opinion the county seems to be quite far south with the exception of Banbury which is more of a Midlands town, being closer to Birmingham than London. The county actually lies between the pastoral south and the industrial north of England, and midway between the Thames and the Severn estuaries. To the north are the picturesque rolling limestone hills of the Cotsworlds rising to a plateau of about 500 feet above sea level; to the south lie the striking chalk hills of the Chilterns which have many beechwood areas.
It's interesting to note, that you can't really mention the county name without thinking about Oxford, somehow the multi-spired university city and colleges vibrates the county to a familiar and different tune. Near the Cotswold Hills in the county, 52 miles (84 kilometers) northwest of London, stands the old city. Just below the city the Cherwell River joins the Isis, or Upper Thames River. It's also intereting to learn, that the city gets its name from the fact that during Saxon times it was a place where oxen once crossed the Thames. Also, for a memoriable experience while in the area, I recommend a walking tour of the city.  Whether you are just visiting the area or are even a local resident and looking for hotel accommodation in Oxfordshire, you can always find an Oxfordshire bed and breakfast which you will find to be surprisingly quite inexpensive. The other option is to look for Oxfordshire cottages or Oxfordshire guest houses for rent with views of some of the most exquisite village scenes and the picturesque undulating hills and hedgerows in the distance. As an area of outstanding natural beauty you may think that the unspoilt landscapes and gentle rolling hills are attraction enough, but there are also many attractions to enjoy, including the magnificent Blenheim Palace, a World Heritage Site, and the Cotswold Wildlife Park. Many of the visitor attractions and museums across the county including the Cotswolds, offer a closer view into the areas rich history, for example; Cogges Manor Farm Museum, where costumed farm hands go about the business of a traditional county homestead in Victorian times.
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