Continued from Part 1…
Tuesday rolled in, starting with a big breakfast. Everything in the hotel was very fresh, from the bacon to the pain au chocolates. We filled ourselves up knowing we’d be having a late lunch.
We started off with a trip to Bicester Village, a retail outlet just outside Bicester. It was like Cheshire Oaks but for the ultra rich, with designer stores like Versace, Victoria Beckham, and Vivienne Westwood. It was all far too expensive for us!
Feeling poor, we drove into the centre of Bicester for a walk around. We found a nice cafe called the Torino Lounge and stopped in for a quick drink before exploring a little more. We found a Wetherspoons called The Penny Black, just like the one in Northwich, though it needed quite a lot of updating on the inside.
From here we went to the Bicester Hotel Golf Club and Spa where we were booked in for a couple of treatments. Helen had a bespoke facial and head massage, while I had a full-body massage. They left us both feeling very relaxed, then led us into the restaurant for some afternoon tea. Afternoon tea was a little surreal as we were the only couple in the entire restaurant, but it was delicious. Nice selection of sandwiches, cakes, and we both nearly overdosed on tea before another walk round the grounds and a drive back to the hotel.
Back at the hotel, we thought about calling it a day and relaxing, but the spa (and copious amounts of tea) had energised us, so we drove in to Oxford again. We walked around for a good hour, checked out a couple of independent bookstores that were open late, worked off the afternoon tea, then finally stopped for a small supper bite at a food court type place called Westgate Street Food Social. Helen had a mini mac and cheese, and I had a chicken burger. Good food!
Oxford is pretty, but also very busy with tourists (like us). There are tonnes of tourist shops around, oddly selling a lot of London-based memorabilia (models of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament). The buildings are nice to look at, but we both prefer Cambridge to Oxford. Loads of cyclists everywhere too!
We’d planned that today would be a “day of relaxation” with the spa treatments and the afternoon tea, but ended the day with around 18,000 steps recorded, so not bad after all.
Busy spa day! Agree though that I prefer Cambridge xx
You’re completely wrong about Cambridge vs Oxford.
Oxford is much better. Have you taken a tour around a college – please do.