Lifestyle

Oxfordshire and its surrounds are famous for outstanding food and hospitality: from farms, growers and markets to cafes, pubs and restaurants. We are delighted to have the chance to feature some of the very best.

If you live in Oxfordshire and are interested in wine, I’ll bet you can name one or two of the local vineyards; or possibly even three or four. But did you know there are now 15 commercial vineyards/wineries in Oxfordshire producing wine?

Yotam Ottolenghi’s branch in Bicester Village opened earlier this summer, bringing the famous chef’s delectable Mediterranean-slash-Middle Eastern dishes to the hordes of shoppers thronging the main drag at the famous shopping destination.

Explore a captivating collection of artworks and creations inspired by literature, music, and words. This collection, which includes a variety of one-of-a-kind, limited-edition prints, handcrafted journals, and book-inspired sculptures, celebrates the power of narrative to inspire artistic creativity.

The sixty-acre Batsford Arboretum is home to a unique and varied collection of some of the world’s most beautiful and rare trees, shrubs and bamboo with over 2,850 labelled specimens including about 1,300 different trees, shrubs and bamboo.

Artist and computer programmer David Woollard uses computer technology to create detailed and imaginative drawings ranging from detailed geometric mandalas and pictures of chaos theory to typographical slogans and golden will-o-the-wisp fractals that seem to hang three-dimensional in space.

This month we’ve chosen art inspired by the elements: the earth, soil and stone; the air, wind and weather, water and fire.

F1 champion, Niki Lauder, compared racing the catamarans (which accelerate to 100km/h quicker than a Lamborghini) to ‘driving a racing car over a freshly ploughed field’ and this year’s season has seen Mette compete at events across Europe, culminating later this month (21-22 September) in Vila Velha De Rodao, Portugal. It’s been an action-packed year for her, so we wanted to find out…