Tourist links to ODG area
Travel links with maps and public transport information.
Other links to:
Oxon churches and Oxfordshire information
Note: If you are ringing
at a tower where ringing chamber access is via an external door you may not
be able to get into the church itself to see its treasures. The tower contact
will usually know who has the key but it saves time to ask him or her to get it in
advance when there is something you particularly want to see.
Some small country parishes are grouped into a combined benefice of
several parishes;
the key you want may be in another parish some miles away with a keyholder
who may not be accessible immediately by telephone. A link to the
benefice follows the dedication on each
tower file.
Ringing Guilds adjacent to the ODG
These links are provided for those visiting towers located at the edge of
the ODG and may want to know about nearby towers who happen to be in other
guilds.
Bells, hangers, ringers etc
Alcoholic beverages
There are still a few local breweries left in the area. With the advent of global warming there is an increasing number of vineyards.
- Beer and Ale
- The Campaign for Real Ale can give advice on which pubs serve real ale. Try their website at CAMRA
- After ringing you may want to tour the Hook Norton Brewery.
- The Wychwood brewery at the Eagle maltings, the Croft, Witney plans to start offering tours on Saturdays by arrangement in June 2005 tel: (01993) 890800. Hand-brewed products include the legendary Hobgoblin Strong Dark Ale and Brakspear beers, moved here after the closure of the Brakspear brewery in Henley-on-Thames in 2002.
- Cider
- The Upton organic cider farm is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons in summer, has been awarded CAMRA's Silver award for 2004 and 2005
for its 'Upton Sweet'. Local towers are in the Old North Berks branch East Hagbourne, Blewbury and Harwell
- Wine
- Lists of local vineyards can be found on the English Wine producers
website. They organise wine tasting in summer
- near Brightwell-cum-Sotwell there is the Brightwell Vineyard
- The 'Rill of the Moorhen' wines grow in East Hendred
- Luxters Vineyard, near Henley tel: (01491) 638330
- Frilford vineyard in Frilford, nearest tower Marcham
- Boze Down Vineyard, near Whitchuch-on-Thames tel: (0118) 984 4031
Tourist Information Centres and general county tourism links
You can find the addresses of most Tourist Information Centres in local
telephone directories, which should be available in your Public Library.
Alternatively if you are connected to the Internet
try the website,
which should give you the current telephone numbers and addresses.
In this area there are offices in:
- Abingdon, Aylesbury, Banbury, Bicester Village, Brackley,
- Cherwell Valley Motorway Service Area, in Ardley, near Bicester,
- Burford, Buckingham, Chipping Norton, Faringdon, High Wycombe,
- Marlow, Moreton-in-Marsh, Newbury, Oxford, Reading,
- Wallingford, Wantage, Wendover, Witney
Links for Bucks
National tourist/conservation organisations
-
English Heritage
- The Landmark Trust
is a building preservation charity founded by the late Sir John Smith and
Lady Smith in 1965. It was established to rescue historic and architecturally interesting buildsing and their surroundings from neglect and, when restored to give them new life by letting them for holidays.
- National Trust
- Photos of Britain organised
by O.S.Grid Ref which may have photographs of the villages associated with towers.
- Environment and wildlife
- Churches and their artefacts
National Museums
Museums in the ODG area
In Berkshire
- Museum of Reading in the Town Hall has 10 tubular bells in
its clock. It is in Blagrave street about a 5 min walk from the main Railway station.It has an Art Gallery, exhibits from 19th century life in Reading when
'Huntley and Palmers' biscuits were made here, a Victorian Copy of the Bayeux Tapestry and a room with relics of Roman Silchester.
- Museum of Rural Life, Redlands road, Reading, about 3 miles from the centre, at Whiteknights Park within the University grounds.
- West Berkshire Museum, the Wharf, Newbury, Berks RG14 5AS
In Bucks
In Oxon
- Central Oxford
- associated with the 'gown', academics of the University
Ashmolean Museum
of Art and Archaelogy, Beaumont Street
- Bodleian Library
- Museum of the
History of Science, Broad Street
- Pitt-Rivers Museum, Parks Road,
has an Asian bell which they use daily when
closing the museum and a few foreign handbells on display. The Sharpe
Collection can be viewed by prior appointment, contact
Tim Pett for details.
- University Museum of Natural History, Victorian Architecture,
dinosaur skeletons, rocks, minerals, insects
- University of Oxford,
Botanic Garden contains some
ancient trees: an English Yew tree planted 360 years ago by Jacob Bobart
during the Civil War and an Austrian Black pine grown from a seed collected
in 1795. It is the oldest plant of this species in the country and has
inspired many Oxford authors, including Philip Pullman, whose final capter
of His Dark Materials trilogy ends beneath this tree,
- Oxford University Press Museum, Great Clarendon Street tel: (01865) 353 527
- associated with the 'town',
Museum of Oxford
has exhibitions
such as the one showing where the TV series 'Inspector Morse' was filmed
- County collections
- individual towns
- Banbury Museum
-
Bloxham Village Museum near the church
- Chipping Norton Museum tel: (01608) 643779
- East Hendred, Champs Chapel Museum
- Henley-on-Thames,
- Hook Norton Village Museum, tel: (01608) 730 384
- Long Hanborough,
Oxford Bus Museum
- Long Wittenham,
nr Abingdon, Pendon Museum of lanscape and transport in miniature
- Uffington, Tom Brown's School Museum
- Wantage Vale and Downland Museum
- Wallingford Museum
- Witney and District Museum
Gloucester Court mews, High Street, Witney, Oxon OX28 6JA
Tel: 0193 775915
houses exhibits about local industries including Witney blankets, glove making, brewing and relics of Witney aerodrome.
- Cogges Farm Museum,
a working farm using Victorian techniques, is near
Witney. Ask in the Tourist Information
Centre by the Butter Cross for details.
Historical County information
Berks history and tourism
- Daivd Nash Ford's Royal Berkshire History
churches,
villages, biographies,
family history etc.
- Links in EBSB branch
- Links in Newbury Branch
- Links in Reading Branch
- Links in Sonning deanery
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© Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers 2008 - Site Map