Christ's College, Cambridge, was first established as God's House in 1437 by William Byngham, a London parish priest, for training grammar school masters. However, its site was needed for King’s College, so it had to move to its present location in 1448.   Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII, decided to enlarge God's House and in 1505 the College was re-founded as Christ's College. Lady Margaret has been honoured ever since as the Foundress.  You can spot her coat of arms on the gatehouse and as pictured. The Beaufort family motto, 'Souvent me Souvient' is usually translated as ‘I often remember’, but can also be thought of as ‘Forget me Not’.

Christ's became one of the leading Puritan colleges of Elizabethan Cambridge. In 1625 it admitted the young John Milton. The Garden still boasts what is known as 'Milton's Mulberry Tree'.  Charles Darwin is another famous old boy.  Further noted alumni include JH Plumb, Lord Louis Mountbatten, Simon Schama, Roy Porter, Colin Dexter, CP Snow, Rowan Williams and Sacha Baron Cohen.

Magdalen College (generally pronounced 'maudlin' - but stick with Mary Magdalen for the person!), was founded in 1458. Its founder was William Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester, and Lord Chancellor. He wanted a College on the grandest scale, and his foundation was the largest in Oxford, with 40 Fellows, 30 scholars (known at Magdalen as 'Demies'), and a large choir for his Chapel. Waynflete lived to a great age, dying in 1486, by which time Magdalen was equipped with a large income, splendid buildings, and a set of statutes. Magdalen soon became one of Oxford’s most prominent Colleges. Kings and Princes visited, including Edward IV, Richard III and James I. Famous alumni include Thomas Wolsey, Edward Gibbon, Oscar Wilde, TE Lawrence, CS Lewis, AJP Taylor, Dudley Moore and Ian Hislop. Parts of the college are often open to visitors - the hall, chapel and old kitchen (where you can buy lunch). There is a lovely circular walk by the River Cherwell and, in the opposite direction, deer can be seen in parkland from the path.

Middle Temple is one of the four Inns of Court which have the exclusive right to call students to the Bar. The education and training of advocates lies at the heart of the Inn, but it is also a professional society with a worldwide membership. The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, to give it its full name, is based on the site of the headquarters of the medieval Knights Templar. Though very little survives from this period - and the area was also extensively bombed in the 1940s - walking through Middle Temple is like walking through history, with links to Magna Carta and the exploration of the New World. Visits inside the Elizabethan Great Hall can be arranged in advance - most of the buildings contain barristers' chambers. Middle Temple is also responsible, with the Inner Temple, for the historic Temple Church.

The University of Oxford Botanic Garden is the oldest botanic garden in Britain and one of the oldest scientific gardens in the world. It was founded in 1621 as a physic garden growing plants for medicinal research. Before Edward I expelled England’s Jews in 1290, it had been Oxford’s Jewish cemetery (there is still a footpath today called Deadman’s Walk south of Merton College which probably marks the route from the synagogue where Christ Church is now, outside the city walls to the burial ground).  Today, the Botanic Garden contains over 6,000 different plant species in 4 ½ acres adjacent to Merton Field and the River Cherwell. You can wander along paths between flowers and the river, where punts glide gently along.  There are herbaceous borders, a rock garden, walled garden and glasshouses. In the lower garden is a bench where, in Philip Pullman’s ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy, the characters Will and Lyra meet between their respective worlds.

The University acquired Harcourt Arboretum in 1947, a 15 minute drive from Oxford.  This contains some of the finest conifer collections in the UK set within 130 acres of historic picturesque landscape. Together, the Garden and Arboretum are an incredible resource for research, education, conservation and inspiration for botanists.

The Pitt Rivers Museum is the archaeological and anthropological museum of the University of Oxford in England.  The collection includes some 500,000 objects, photographs and manuscripts from all over the world, and from all periods of human existence.

The museum was founded in 1884, when General Pitt-Rivers gave his collection to the University.  Pitt-Rivers began life as Augustus Henry Lane Fox and inherited the name Pitt-Rivers, as well as a substantial estate, from an uncle in 1880.  In 1882 Pitt-Rivers was appointed the first Inspector of Ancient Monuments. He had collected objects – initially varieties of weapons – whilst on service overseas with the army.  Most objects in his collection, however, were acquired from dealers, auction houses and people he knew. The collection was given to the University on condition that a museum was built to house it and a lecturer appointed to teach about it and look after it.  The Museum first opened to visitors in 1887.  In most ethnographic and archaeological museums, the objects are arranged according to geographical or cultural areas. At the Pitt Rivers Museum, objects are not arranged by geographical or cultural taxonomy, but by type: musical instruments, weapons, masks, textiles, jewellery and tools are all displayed to illustrate diversity in solving common problems in different times and by different peoples.