Oxford

The university city is easy to explore on foot and is a hub of museums, galleries and historic buildings

- Laura Silverman

We rightly grant some writers a flourish of poetic licence in their work, but the briefest glimpse of Oxford shows Matthew Arnold was on the money in the 19th century when he described it as “that sweet city with her dreaming spires”. For the pretty medieval city in southeast England is chock-a-block with Gothic buildings and cosy pubs, wrapped up in a network of literary links and scholarly thought.

At its heart is the university, founded in 1167 – proudly making it the oldest in the English-speaking world (sorry, Cambridge). From Christ Church (the college of Brideshead fame) to Magdalen (with its magnificent deer park), the 38 colleges each have their own character. And over the centuries, it is the students who have invigorated the city, adding a dash of daring and possibility to the classical setting.