With skylines pierced with spires and domes, palace estates and idyllic meadows, Oxfordshire has a dreamlike quality. Top things to do in Oxfordshire include a punt on the River Cherwell in Oxford for a student's-eye view of highbrow colleges, walks though rambling deer parks, botanic gardens and lush meadows, and jaunts to Henley-on-Thames to see varsity teams row in posh regattas. Walkers amble between stony Cotswold villages like Witney and Woodstock, and tread ridgeways over the Chiltern Hills as red kites swoop overhead. Meanwhile, shoppers spend happy days lost in Bicester’s designer outlets and old-school covered markets.