Oxford Short Break
Oxford’s world-class colleges may have drawn scholars for 800 years, but there are plenty of other reasons to head to the ‘City of Dreaming Spires’. This lovely break in Oxford and its surrounds will leave you relaxed as well as enlightened. Discover what it took to be a codebreaker at Bletchley Park. Take in the grandeur and the quirks that made Blenheim Palace a home for the Churchills. And find yourself a seat on a punt or in a traditional pub after a tour of this beautiful city.
- Visits to Bletchley Park and Blenheim Palace
- Oxford city tour
Including...
- 4 nights in hotel (accommodation as specified or similar)
- 8 meals: 4 breakfasts (days 2-5) 4 dinners (days 1-4)
- Welcome drink
- Titan’s VIP door-to-door travel service
- Services of a Titan tour manager
- Best available coaches with experienced drivers
- Porterage
Oxford
Titan’s VIP door-to-door travel service collects you from home, for your journey to Oxford. We aim for you to arrive between 4pm and 5pm and a welcome drink awaits.
Oxford Spires Four Pillars Hotel
Bletchley Park
Today you’ll gain intelligence on the work that was accomplished at Bletchley Park. In 1940, while Europe was at war, a small group of MI6, and Government Code and Cypher School academics hid in this beautiful country house to break the Enigma code.
Although the life-saving operations came to an end in 1946, it remained top secret until the 1970s, when the team, including remarkable mathematicians Gordon Welchman and Alan Turing, started to get the recognition they deserved.
Imagine the clackety-clack of the 200 machines that were used here, now displayed in thought-provoking exhibitions; see fragments of the Colossus machines - the world’s first programmable electronic computers; and scour an archive full of World War II documents.
Oxford
Our sightseeing tour shows Oxford’s beauty, as we explore by coach and on foot. Its core looks much as it did when great architects, including Sir Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor, created the numerous spires, domes and archways. Lewis Carroll, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Kenneth Grahame and even Dr Seuss (Theodore Geisel) would instantly recognise it from the days they trod these paths.
During your free afternoon, maybe smell the flowers at the Botanic Garden or go punting on the River Cherwell - a wonderful way to take in some sights. Or perhaps delve into one of Oxford’s museums, such as Britain’s oldest - the revered Ashmolean Museum. The magnificent Bodleian Library may take your fancy. Five kings, many prime ministers and several Nobel laureates have studied here.
For a different look into Oxford’s past, Oxford Castle was built for William the Conqueror, and partly destroyed during the English Civil War. Clamber up the medieval motte, and you can enjoy views over the city’s spire-spiked skyline.
Blenheim Palace
Blenheim Palace is one of England’s grandest baroque homes, built by the nation to honour war hero John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough.
Today you can discover the lavish state rooms and 2,000 acres of gardens and parkland shaped by Capability Brown, as well as a family heritage of generations that have helped shape Britain’s history.
It was the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill, and an exhibition to the man who led Britain through war shows a little of his home life - from childhood to meeting his wife Clementine, and his campaigns.
Day 5 Oxford
You’ll be collected at 10am by your Titan vehicle, for the journey home.
Arrive Home
