Visitor information
Visit the Cotswolds Tourism website for all the latest things to do and places to stay in Oxfordshire.
Attractions
Tourism is important to the local economy, generating over £282m a year. Some of the attractions include:
- Blenheim Palace
- Cotswold Wildlife Park
- Chipping Norton Theatre
- the River Thames and
- charming market towns like Burford, Chipping Norton, Witney and Woodstock.
To plan your visit go to the Cotswolds Tourism website.
Transport links
Major roads link the district to larger centres nearby, including Oxford, Swindon, Cheltenham and Banbury.
The Cotswold and Cherwell Valley railway lines pass through the district. The Cotswolds line operates from London Paddington to Hereford and Worcester. There are seven railway stations in West Oxfordshire on this line:
- Hanborough
- Combe (limited service)
- Finstock (limited service)
- Charlbury
- Ascott-under-Wychwood (limited service)
- Shipton (limited service)
- Kingham
The London Paddington and Oxford to Banbury line stops at Tackley station, in the east of the area.
About West Oxfordshire
- West Oxfordshire is a rural area covering 71,494 hectares. With around 109,300 people living in the district, it is the second most sparsely populated of the 67 local authorities in South East England. A third of the district is in the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and 2% lies within the Green Belt surrounding Oxford city.
- The district has 83 parishes, ranging from towns to hamlets.
- The district's population is spread out over a wide area, however it is mainly concentrated in the towns of Witney and Carterton. Other towns are Burford, Charlbury, Chipping Norton and Woodstock.
- 41% of the total population live in the district's two largest towns - Witney (over 28,700) and Carterton (around 16,500).
- The proportion of older people in West Oxfordshire is above average with 3.1% aged over 85 compared with 2.4% nationally.
- The largest populations of people in West Oxfordshire who were born outside the UK are from Poland, Germany, Ireland and the USA.
- West Oxfordshire has a strong and diverse economy and one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country.
- Tourism plays a major role in the district's economy, attracting over four million visits and around £282.5 million to West Oxfordshire per year. Visit the Cotswold Tourism website.
- Parking at council owned car parks is free.
- We set our share of the annual council tax bill for a Band D property in 2019/2020 at £99.38 and continue to have the second lowest council tax charge of all 201 district councils in England.
Visitor Map of West Oxfordshire - pdf - 629 Kb