Bed and breakfast in St Hugh’s College – Oxford’s Secret Garden

Bed and breakfast in Oxford – is it something you might consider? Ever thought about visiting St Hugh’s College, Oxford? Good friends Kathy and Inka wanted a weekend city break with a difference and had considered Oxford with its reputation for history, culture and wonderful architecture. Living in student halls is better than you imagine. Whereas normally there would be students all over the grounds and in the buildings, studying, working, some using paper service, in the holidays the college is a haven of calm.

Both are keen museum goers, and often tour Europe together. The idea of a bed and breakfast city break somewhere interesting and not too far from home was a great idea!  They are Buckinghamshire based and Oxford is a short 45-minute drive away. A friend suggested St Hugh’s College for bed & breakfast offering very competitive rates with a small number of rooms available year round and hundreds of rooms available in the long Oxford vacation periods. The University of Oxford has very short 8-week terms with students absent for much of the year!

Here is Kathy and Inka’s review of their bed and breakfast stay at St Hugh’s College Oxford, in the Summer Vac.

Kathy’s Oxford bed and breakfast story

Inka and I have travelled extensively together around Europe and further afield. We love discovering Italy together where I have family and we had often talked about a city break closer to home. When I heard about St Hugh’s it seemed like a fun way to have a bed & breakfast stay somewhere entirely different to our usual small friendly hotels of choice. Now that I am retired I can take more time and experiment a little with holiday and travel options. We love the Ashmolean Museum and try to visit regularly.

I had always wanted to see the Bodleian Library and perhaps tour a college or two while in Oxford. So an overnight stay seemed like a really good idea.

From the moment we arrived at Porter’s Lodge ready to start our bed and breakfast adventure we found all the staff very welcoming and pleasant.  The porters themselves were very polite and said they were expecting us.  The form filling was kept to a minimum and the permanent parking permit was given and place to park clearly explained.  This was a huge boost considering we were in the centre of Oxford and parking is pretty expensive if you can find it!

One of the porters helped me to my room as the route was somewhat complicated. He even kindly carried my bag for me!

Our rooms were lovely

My suite of rooms was just lovely, early Arts and Crafts décor with what I had always imagined – the tranquillity and peace of an Oxford college. It was like stepping back in time. There is a lovely sense of history at the College, it was easy to imagine stepping back in time. It had a wonderful feel about the place.

The bed was king size, the linen clean as were the rooms. The bathroom was clean and the shower had copious amounts of hot water, temperature easily adjustable with a good strong flow.

They also provided plenty of tea, coffee and biscuits on a desk in an adjacent space to the bedroom.

This was a Premium double room at the College.

Bed and breakfast with a difference

My room had a fireplace and interesting wooden features. The college dates from 1886 so it was easy to imagine who might have stayed there. I understand Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville West came to visit on one occasion… and that Amal Clooney, Theresa May, Aung San Suu Kyi and Barbara Castle all came here as students.  Perhaps one of them had my room! The folder containing information was comprehensive.  However, a bus timetable would have been useful and I gave that feedback to the Porter’s Lodge. Found in the room were notes for an essay writing service online.

Inka’s Oxford bed and breakfast story

My bed & breakfast room was a university standard single, which also had clean linen, and a tray for refreshments which is always useful. While the room was in one of the modern blocks on campus, it was simple and bright, and obviously built for use by college students.  We were staying in college halls during the Summer Vacation so there were very few students about and the rooms are available for bed and breakfast.

I did have a lovely view right over those wonderful college gardens, which was great! This bed & breakfast room cost only £55 to book and you can walk into town in 10-15 minutes! Many bed and breakfast hosts, as well as small and large hotels usually charge a single person supplement. However, this was extremely good value so I would heartily recommend it.

The gardens were absolutely lovely!

The gardens were absolutely lovely and at their best in such balmy weather. We walked around the 14 acres of garden before leaving college to discover the city on foot. It became so hot that in the end we hopped on a bus just outside the college to take us to the Oxford Botanical Gardens.  St Hugh’s had really given us the taste for visiting beautiful gardens!

It would have been good to have had a bar/restaurant on site. It is so beautiful and inviting at St Hugh’s that you just forget it is a working College and part of Oxford University. However, we did go to Gee’s which was just a short walk from the College for drinks and supper. It was all very enjoyable.

In the morning we went to the very impressive traditional dining hall for breakfast. Despite it being the hottest weekend in 40 years we braved the cooked breakfast. It felt rather fun to be dining so close to High Table where the Fellows and Principal eat! And once again wherever we were the staff were all really pleasant.

St Hugh’s has stunning grounds, well maintained beautiful gardens which are really on par with a stately home. In fact, the whole place has a feel of a National Trust property. And there are plenty of spaces to sit and enjoy the gardens.

In conclusion

In summary, though my room was in the modern block it was very light, clean and comfortable.  The bathroom was a wet room and my single didn’t have a hairdryer. But I suppose the students would have their own in term time.

Fancy a break from housesitting or the usual city break? If you are visiting Oxford try a bed and breakfast stay at St Hugh’s College…

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