The question, perhaps, is not whether Oxford makes time for tradition, but which traditions have the privilege of being considered part of ordinary life.
My home village, in the quiet countryside of Cheshire, has a population of 200. Within walking distance, you'll find a church, a pub, and an upscale coffee shop.
'Places are not the same by night. They are transformed. Shapes and forms take on different sizes, colours and shades. Perspective becomes blurred, sounds sharper'
'There’s a wonderful feeling of freedom that comes from being in the water, especially here where it is deep enough to kick your legs out without touching river-bed'
'In such a forest there is of course much more than visual pleasure; there’s the sound of wind bending and creaking age-old timber, or the whiff of damp leaves, the smell of air, damp, imbued with life.'
'Port Meadow is steeped in myth; it’s the unploughed landscape, the land earned from resisting the Danes, a sacred spot where the Freemen graze their cattle'