The plan was to a; see the Bodleian Maker of Middle Earth exhibition then b; see some of the ‘Tolkien’ sites of Oxford, c; experience Oxford.
I did quite a bit of planning, particularly for the Tolkien sites, and had a fairly detailed itinerary:
Parking is not good in Oxford, went for OXPENS which left a bit of a walk (20min) to the City Centre. It was a very beautiful summers day, however following a long delay on the drive up, required a brisk walk to hit out exhibition time, which made us very hot. It would defiantly be worth considering the park and ride (although this would have impacted on travelling to some locations later in the day). Also, the parking was a bit expensive.
The Tolkien exhibition was very good, a lot of original Tolkien documents and particularly his art. It was amazing to see the originals of a some very famous pictures. I particularly liked the fan letter from Terry Pratchett. There was an interesting mix of items from various aspects of his life and the different books he wrote. The 3D map is also very good. The exhibition is not huge, just one room, and it can get a bit crowded (although when we were there on a weekday, morning it was ok). The staff were friendly and efficient.
There was a lot of nice stuff to buy in the Museum Shop, I couldn’t afford a lot of it, but brought some mugs, postcards and a tea-towel. The carrier bags where also very nice and also very cheap, a great souvenir on their own.
Blackwells bookshop next door to the Library is also a must do, they have a small display of rare Tolkien books.
After that we then started our walking exploration of Oxford (to include some specific Tolkien locations).
You can book more official tours of some of the sites (we didn’t have time for that).
Our first stop was Exeter College, which is also close to the Bodleian, just around the corner. There is a bust of Tolkien in the Chapel.
Our next stop was the Radcliffe Camera, which is also close to the Bodleian. Not a Tolkien related site but a wonderful building.
It was then a slightly longer walk to the Botanical Gardens. This is where Tolkien’s favourite tree was (trees being significant in Tolkien’s books), however it is no longer there, having benn cut down a while ago. We didn’t have much time to spend in the gardens.
Next was Merton College, which is right next door to the gardens. I would have liked to have seen Tolkien’s Stone Table on Dead Man’s Walk, however you need to be in the College grounds to see this and we didn’t have time go into the College. We did walk next to it around Merton’s field.
We then walked passed Christ Church College and Cathedral which is right next to Merton.
From there we went up through the town and saw Ashmolean Museum and continued on to the Eagle and Child pub, where the Inkings regularly met. We had a brief look round the pub, but it was a bit crowded to stop for a drink.
We then crossed over the road and saw the Natural History Museum and then went to the Oxford University Parks, which are next to it.
The park was bigger than expected and Tolkien’s Bench is right on the other side (near the High Bridge). The 2 trees planted in memory of Tolkien are not marked so we didn’t see those however it was lovely on Tolkien’s bench, in the shade by the river.
This concluded our city centre tour, so we made out leisurely way back through the centre to the car park.
We then took the 10-minute drive to Tolkien’s house. This was a little bit obscured by trees and hedges but could see the blue plaque clearly.
We then drove a little bit further out to visit Tolkien’s grave in Wolvercote Cemetery. There are little signed along the side of the paths directing you to the grave. The grave is quite simple in amongst all the others.
The whole trip was a great day out. The exhibition was wonderful. I would like to go back to Oxford to explore some the Tolkien aspects of the various colleges.
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