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Best of British Food & Shopping in Oxfordshire

Oxford and Oxfordshire really do offer the 'Best of British' places to eat - and shop.
There's such a range and variety of eateries that even sophisticated 'foodies' will be content. With beef, lamb, fruit, veg and preserves from Oxfordshire's rolling fields on offer in market towns and farm shops you need look no further for local produce and edible souvenirs.

Famous hotels provide memorable eating experiences - the Malmaison prison, the Edwardian Macdonald Randolph, and the riverside Oxford Thames Four Pillars to name but three. Fallowfields even grows its own beef, poultry, fruit and herbs.

Many river and canal-side pubs specialise in local produce; there are ancient coaching inns, breweries, microbreweries - and even an award-winning vineyard, all encouraging you to sample their specialities.

Good value good eating in unpretentious surroundings features heavily - whether bangers and mash, cheerful pizzas, home-made soup or cakes - there are unexpected discoveries to be made.

And so to shopping.

Bicester Village, home to over 130 designer outlet boutiques, is the destination of choice for many. But Witney, Banbury, Didcot and Oxford have their own shopping centres with High Street names as well as traditional family-owned department stores plus small independent specialist shops. Many of these are totally unique, where craftsmen and women practise their skills honed by years of experience, sometimes attracting customers from 'across the pond'. Farmers', WI and open air markets bring bustle and crowds to age-old market squares, while Oxford's Covered Market, an 18th century shopping mall, caters for almost your every need - from live lobsters to custom-made hats.