What's On
Festivals, circus, horse trials and country days out, all within easy reach.
Festivals, circus, horse trials and country days out, all within easy reach.
From the Grand Prix at Silverstone to Giffords Circus on the doorstep, there's always something worth planning a stay around. All events are within easy reach of the cottage.
TheatreThe RSC and the Unicorn Theatre collaborate on a playful, visually magical take on Shakespeare's comedy. Described by The Guardian as 'a punchy Shakespeare romcom' — 80 minutes, no interval, suitable for ages 7 and up.
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TheatreCreation Theatre's open-air Shakespeare under a marquee on Wolfson College's cricket ground — the comedy staged as an English summer fête, all bunting, blossom and a hint of fairy dust. Bring a picnic. Suitable for ages 5+, about 120 minutes including an interval.
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TheatreKenneth Branagh, Helen Hunt and Bill Pullman in Laura Wade's new adaptation of Chekhov's final play, directed by Tamara Harvey. A magnificent cast in one of the great theatrical venues — a proper night out.
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Art & CultureOver 100 iconic photographs tracing the Royal Family's relationship with the camera from Queen Victoria to the present day — rare off-duty portraits alongside grand state ceremonies. Originally shown at Kensington Palace, now touring to Blenheim.
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FamilyA summer immersive programme for children in Daylesford's tipi, combining outdoor learning and farm life. Runs weekdays across two blocks: 13–24 July and 10–21 August, 10:45am–2:45pm. Book via Tarka London.
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TheatreCreation Theatre's open-air Twelfth Night on Wolfson College's cricket ground: shipwrecks, mistaken identities and gloriously ridiculous schemes, with razor-sharp wit, live music and physical comedy. Bring a picnic. Suitable for ages 5+, about 120 minutes including an interval.
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TheatreA major new stage adaptation written by Duncan Macmillan and directed by Dominic Cooke, exploring the final years before the events of George R.R. Martin's world. Staged on an innovative cross-shaped stage that transforms the RSC auditorium.
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SportA huge automotive gathering at Bicester Motion's historic former RAF airfield — hundreds of display cars from classics and modern classics to modified motors and supercars, a live interview stage with industry names, and family- and dog-friendly indoor and outdoor spaces.
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FamilyA hands-on pond-dipping and grass-sweeping session for children aged 5 to 9 at the Science Oxford Centre in Headington — catching and identifying creatures with magnifiers and microscopes, and learning about life cycles and food chains. An accompanying adult is required.
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MusicA full-day summer music celebration at Bicester Hotel Golf & Spa — four live acts followed by a late-night DJ, with food and drink throughout and a proper festival atmosphere in the Oxfordshire countryside.
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MusicThe Kleio String Quartet perform Schubert alongside cellist Benjamin Kruithof at the Holywell Music Room. Doors 11:15am.
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FestivalFairport Convention's own three-day festival in the fields at Cropredy near Banbury, a famously friendly weekend of folk, rock and acoustic music that draws thousands to one big open-air stage.
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Food & DrinkSummer's peak on the plate — heritage tomatoes, peaches, plums and herbs at their most vibrant, cooked through a Mediterranean-British lens. An end-of-summer evening under the yurt canvas. 6:30pm–10pm. Book via OpenTable.
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Food & DrinkA bank holiday weekend of top chefs, street food, music and family activities on Blur's Alex James' farm in the Cotswolds. A brilliant combination of food festival and music event.
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MusicThe Adderbury Ensemble are joined by clarinettist Fiona Cross for a Sunday morning chamber concert at the Holywell Music Room. Doors 11:15am.
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FamilyAn open-air screening of Star Wars: A New Hope in the grand grounds of Stowe House near Buckingham — pre-film music, and bring a picnic and blankets to settle in for the evening under the stars.
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MusicLondon Serenata perform works by Poulenc, Emmanuel and arranged pieces at the Holywell Music Room. Doors 11:15am.
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FamilyA guided family fossil hunt at Cross Hands Quarry near Moreton-in-Marsh, exploring the Cotswolds' Jurassic past with expert help. Suitable for ages seven and up, and you can keep whatever you find.
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MusicTwenty years of Woodstock Live — a free weekend of live music in Woodstock's town square, with Friday kick-off gigs in local venues. Family friendly, free entry.
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MusicThe Adderbury Ensemble perform Bach alongside harpsichordist and conductor Lawrence Cummings at the Holywell Music Room. Doors 11:15am.
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FamilyThe Sealed Knot brings the English Civil War to Great Tew Park — hundreds of infantry, cavalry and cannon, a 17th-century living-history camp, drill and weapons displays, and a full-scale battle for the Royalist stronghold each afternoon. Loud, spectacular and right on the doorstep.
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FestivalA village festival on Wash Meadow beside the Windrush at Minster Lovell — live music from local bands, food and drink, craft stalls, children's rides and the famous duck race. A relaxed family day out.
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SportOver 1,000 privately owned sports and hypercars on the lawns of Blenheim Palace, alongside a Concours competition, fine dining, champagne bars and luxury shopping. One of the great motoring occasions in the calendar.
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Country ShowOne of the Cotswolds' great country shows — livestock and horse classes, food producers, live music, dogs, trade stands and the quintessential English agricultural day out.
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MusicThe Darlington String Quartet are joined by guitarist Craig Ogden for a Sunday morning concert at the Holywell Music Room. Doors 11:15am.
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MusicEx Collegio of Oxford & Cambridge, joined by the New Chamber Singers of Rome, mark 45 years of singing with Duruflé's radiant Requiem in the soaring surrounds of Keble College Chapel.
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SportOne of the world's great three-day equestrian events, held across the Blenheim Palace estate. World-class riders, the famous cross-country course through the parkland, and a superb food and shopping village.
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LiteratureHistorian Erin Maglaque at Blackwell's on Broad Street, in conversation with Alison Light, on her book Presence — a vivid, archival recovery of the desiring, labouring, caring women of the pre-modern past.
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Food & DrinkAutumn's first abundance — wild mushrooms, apples, pears and the fruits of field, orchard and hedgerow. A harvest supper under the yurt canvas at Rosara. 6:30pm–10pm. Book via OpenTable.
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MusicThe London Welsh Male Voice Choir in concert at St Peter & St Paul Church, Wantage, in support of the Ray Collins Charitable Trust — an evening of stirring choral singing in a fine market-town church.
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SportA charity trek through the Cotswolds for Macmillan Cancer Support, following rolling hills and honey-stone villages before finishing in the grounds of Blenheim Palace. Choose the full 26-mile route or the 12.6-mile half.
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MusicThe official Glenn Miller Orchestra on its UK tour, conducted by Ray McVay: the bandleader's classic 1940s sound and best-loved standards, with the Moonlight Serenaders and the Uptown Hall Gang jazz band. About 2 hours 10 minutes including an interval.
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MusicLawrence Cummings (harpsichord) and Rachel Brown (flute) in an intimate Baroque recital at the Holywell Music Room. Doors 11:15am.
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Art & CultureA rare free chance to step inside Stowe's Gothic Temple, a 1741 folly with heraldry-painted vaults and gallery access, open for the national Heritage Open Days.
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MusicPianist Viv McLean in a solo recital at Oxford's Holywell Music Room. Doors 11:15am.
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MusicOxford Chamber Music Festival's autumn series 'New Worlds' — six days of concerts featuring Meta4 string quartet, mezzo-soprano Dorottya Láng, pianist Julius Drake and violinist Alena Baeva. Programmes span Crumb, Golijov, Dvořák and the American Songbook.
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Food & DrinkA celebration of the harvest season at one of the Cotswolds' best-known organic farms. Food, music, seasonal produce and cookery demonstrations in a beautiful rural setting.
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MusicA candlelit evening with the English Chamber Orchestra at Oxford's University Church — Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending and Vivaldi's Winter among a programme of English and classical favourites, with violinist Harriet Mackenzie.
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LiteratureThe world's oldest literary festival — two and a half weeks of leading authors, journalists, poets and thinkers. One of the great autumn outings from the cottage.
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Food & DrinkGather around the fire for a seasonal celebration of celeriac, leeks, Jerusalem artichokes and foraged woodland mushrooms — Andrew Carr's cooking at its most autumnal. 6:30pm–10pm. Book via OpenTable.
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LiteratureWriter Jonn Elledge at Blackwell's on Broad Street with his book 31 Inventions That Built Our World — from the lift and electric light to parks and pedestrian crossings, the everyday ideas that made the modern city.
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MusicClarinettist and bandleader Ewan Bleach brings The Fleeting Paradise Orchestra to St Giles' Church, Oxford — hot early jazz and swing in the spirit of the 1920s and 30s American territory bands and society dance orchestras.
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LiteratureHistorian William Tullett at Blackwell's on Broad Street with his book Sniff: A History of Smells — how scent has shaped identity, memory and community, from libraries to hospitals across the centuries.
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TheatreChekhov's darkly comic masterpiece of thwarted love and ambition on a country estate, in a fresh staging for the play's 130th anniversary: a new translation by Olivier-winning playwright Simon Stephens, with a live original score and bird-like movement. Ages 15+, with an interval.
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FamilyAn after-dark trail through themed zones — Spider's Lair, Vampire Hunters, Catacombs and more — with striking light displays and immersive entertainment. Separately ticketed and genuinely good fun for all ages.
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MusicOne of the UK's leading big bands returns to St Giles' Church, Oxford — the Oxford University Jazz Orchestra play music from their new album Checkmate alongside the classic swing standards.
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TheatreStewart Lee — 'the world's greatest living stand-up' (The Times) — shares the stage with a heckling werewolf as he wrestles with staying relevant and his own inner beast. About 2 hours with an interval; ages 14+.
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Food & DrinkThe full British game season on one table — wild venison, pheasant, partridge, wild mushrooms, celeriac and root vegetables, cooked by Andrew Carr. An evening worth driving back from. 6:30pm–10pm. Book via OpenTable.
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FamilyOver a million lights in the illuminated trail, Cinderella's story through the State Rooms, a Great Skate ice rink in the Great Court, and a Christmas Market until 20th December. Book well in advance — it sells out every year.
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MusicIndie rockers Leonian Dream headline a live night at The Jericho on Walton Street, Oxford — atmospheric textures, driving guitars and emotive vocals, with support from Roadshow.
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FamilyOxford Playhouse's Christmas pantomime: Snow White, Queen Narcissa and her magic mirror in an enchanted forest, with dancing, songs, comedy and plenty of audience participation. About 2 hours 20 minutes including an interval; ages 5 to 105.
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FamilyCreation Theatre's festive reimagining of Alice: her curiosity tips her into a winter wonderland of Christmas traditions, with the Mad Hatter, a dodo and the Queen of Hearts in a joyful family adventure. Suitable for ages 5+, about 2 hours including a 20-minute interval.
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MusicThe Budapest Café Orchestra bring their virtuoso blend of Balkan, Russian and klezmer-flavoured gypsy folk to St Giles' Church in Oxford — foot-stomping traditional tunes and original compositions in the grand café-orchestra tradition.
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Food & DrinkLog fire, candlelight and Andrew Carr's festive cooking — heritage carrots, winter brassicas, chestnuts, squash and orchard apples with warming spices. A beautiful way to spend a December evening. 6:30pm–10pm. Book via OpenTable.
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FamilyThe Mozart Symphony Orchestra performs Howard Blake's score live as the classic animated film screens in the magnificent Sheldonian Theatre. Paddington Bear's First Concert also on the programme. Three performances: 1:30pm, 3:30pm and 5:30pm. Ages 5 and up.
More info & tickets →Dates are correct at time of publication but always check with the organiser before booking travel.
Base yourself at Well Cottage and have the whole of the Cotswolds on your doorstep.