22 places · every place verified by us
Old houses, a brewery you climb through, a free town museum, a working boatyard and the museum of British motor racing. Many of the houses shut for the winter, so check the season before you choose.
22 places
Family days out · Bicester
An indoor trampoline and adventure park on Talisman Business Park in Bicester, with Open Jump sessions for ages 4 and up, toddler sessions, quieter SEN sessions and a café for those not jumping.
Family-friendly · Rainy days
Verified Nov 2026
Museums and galleries · Banbury
Banbury's free town museum, on the Oxford Canal with an entrance in Castle Quay: Bronze Age finds, a cannon from Banbury Castle, plush cloth and a canal gallery, with paid touring exhibitions and a canalside café.
Family-friendly · Rainy days · Car-free
Verified Nov 2026
Sport and activity · Bicester
The town's public pool and sports centre on Queens Avenue, run for Cherwell District Council, with a 25m pool, a 15m learner pool and pay-as-you-go public swims booked online.
Family-friendly · Rainy days
Verified Nov 2026
Historic houses and heritage · Broughton
A moated medieval manor house near Banbury, turned into an Elizabethan mansion by the Fiennes family, tied to the opposition to Charles I and seen in Shakespeare in Love and Wolf Hall. Open on Wednesday and Sunday afternoons, April to September.
Dog-friendly · Walker-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
Parks and gardens · Burton Dassett
A hundred acres of open hilltop in south Warwickshire with wide views, old quarry workings and a beacon, plus the medieval church of All Saints. A country park since 1971. Car parking £3.50 a day.
Dog-friendly · Family-friendly · Walker-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
Historic houses and heritage
The Dryden family's Elizabethan manor house in south Northamptonshire, with painted rooms, Jacobean plasterwork and terraced gardens, beside the surviving church of a medieval priory. National Trust, north east of Banbury.
Dog-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
Historic houses and heritage
The Lucy family's Tudor and Victorian house beside the River Avon near Stratford, with fallow deer, Jacob sheep and a service courtyard. National Trust, about 30 minutes from Banbury. The park opens all year, and the house days change for Christmas.
Family-friendly · Dog-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
Historic houses and heritage
A Jacobean house about 35 minutes south west of Banbury, little changed since the family that built it lost its money. National Trust, afternoons only in season, closed for the winter. Built on land sold by the Gunpowder plotter Robert Catesby.
Verified Nov 2026
Family days out · Chipping Norton
A theatre in a former Salvation Army citadel in Chipping Norton, known for its long-running family pantomime, with films and other shows through the year. The Snow Queen runs from 18 November 2026 to 17 January 2027.
Family-friendly · Rainy days
Verified Nov 2026
Family days out · Bicester
An indoor climbing centre on Bessemer Close in Bicester with more than 20 auto-belay climbing lines for ages 4 and up, short family sessions from age 2, a pottery-painting room and a café beside the arena.
Family-friendly · Rainy days
Verified Nov 2026
Museums and galleries
An art gallery in a Robert Adam house in a Capability Brown park, about 25 minutes north west of Banbury, with six permanent collections and changing shows. Open Wednesday to Sunday, all winter too. Adults from £22.50 in 2026, and 18 and under free.
Family-friendly · Dog-friendly · Rainy days
Verified Nov 2026
Tours and experiences · Bicester
Supercar and film-car driving days run by Everyman on Bicester Motion's experience track at the former RAF Bicester, on a few set dates a year, with weekday drives with a passenger ride from £59.
Verified Nov 2026
Historic houses and heritage
A Palladian house north of Banbury, still lived in by the Holbech family and run with the National Trust, with a raised terrace walk to an obelisk. A few rooms and the grounds open from April to September. Closed until 7 April 2027.
Walker-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
Tours and experiences · Hook Norton
A family brewery in a Victorian tower at Hook Norton, with a steam engine of 1899, Shire horses that still deliver to two village pubs, and tours at £25. The climb is over 100 open steps, and there is a gentler monthly option. Shop and kitchen open daily.
Dog-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
Museums and galleries · Silverstone
The interactive museum of British motor racing, at Silverstone Circuit: cars and bikes from the 1940s on, RAF Silverstone's wartime story, a sim suite and a trail round parts of the old track. Adults £24 online or £29 on the day, valid for return visits for a year.
Family-friendly · Rainy days
Verified Nov 2026
Tours and experiences · Bicester
A small-batch gin and vodka distillery in the North Tanker Sheds at Bicester Motion, the former RAF Bicester, with 75-minute tours and tastings on Fridays and Saturdays, a weekday shop and an indoor bar at weekends.
Verified Nov 2026
Historic houses and heritage
Two attractions on one estate, about 30 minutes east of Banbury: Stowe House, a Grade I palace run by an independent charity and shared with a school, and the National Trust's landscape gardens around it. Separate tickets, entrances and parking.
Family-friendly · Dog-friendly · Walker-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
Historic houses and heritage · Sulgrave
The Tudor manor house built by George Washington's English ancestors, in Sulgrave north east of Banbury, and a museum of the Anglo-American link since 1921. Open Sundays to Tuesdays in season, walk-ins welcome. Closed for the winter until March 2027.
Family-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
Parks and gardens
A plant centre at Warmington, near Banbury, growing culinary and medicinal herbs, fruit and native wildflowers, most of them on site in peat-free compost, with a café bistro, a play area and nature trails.
Verified Nov 2026
Historic houses and heritage · Banbury
A working dry dock and forge on the Oxford Canal in Banbury, in use since 1778 and now hemmed in by Castle Quay. Small museum in the chandlery, Saturday boat trips in summer, and blacksmith courses. A scheduled monument and the start of Tom Rolt's Narrow Boat.
Car-free
Verified Nov 2026
Historic houses and heritage
A National Trust house on the Edge Hill ridge, remodelled in the 1920s for the oil magnate Lord Bearsted to show his paintings by Bosch, El Greco, Stubbs and Hogarth, above terraced gardens that drop 30m to a Mirror Pool.
Family-friendly · Dog-friendly · Rainy days
Verified Nov 2026
Family days out · Bicester
Bicester's seven-screen cinema, at the Pioneer Centre on Bure Place in the town centre, showing new films in 2D and 3D and Vue's Big Screen Events, with cheaper tickets online and free parking at the local Sainsbury's.
Family-friendly · Rainy days
Verified Nov 2026
The first question is what month it is. Most of the big houses here close for the winter or open only on a few days, so a good plan in June does not work in January. The second is whether you want a house, a hill or something with an engine.
If you see one, make it Broughton Castle, for the moat, the gatehouse and the recorded history, on one of its few afternoons in the season. There is no booking. Upton House has an art collection in the house and gardens to go with it, and suits art lovers and families. Sulgrave Manor is the Tudor house of George Washington's ancestors, with trails and dressing up.
Further out, Canons Ashby has painted rooms and a medieval church beside it, Chastleton is for people who like their old houses worn, and Farnborough Hall is a short visit, not worth a long drive on its own. Stowe needs a whole day and two tickets, and Charlecote Park is the easy one with a family and a dog. Our guide to castles and houses near Banbury sorts all of them.
Compton Verney, a gallery in a country house set in a Capability Brown park, opens from Wednesday to Sunday through the winter and has lifts to every gallery floor. Banbury Museum and Gallery is free, with its Waterways Gallery bridging the canal. Things to do in Banbury has more in town.
Hook Norton Brewery is a working Victorian tower brewery you walk up through, with a tasting at the end. The tour means over 100 open steps and no under-12s. Tooley's Boatyard is a dry dock and forge of 1778, hemmed in by a shopping centre, with boat trips on summer Saturdays. Its hours are limited, so ring first. Silverstone Museum is more hands-on displays than rows of cars, and loud in places.
Burton Dassett Hills is a big hill and a view, for children and dogs who need to run. The council lists no café, so bring a flask. The National Herb Centre at Warmington is for people who cook or garden. Free and open at any time are Banbury Cross, Deddington's castle banks and the Edgehill battlefield, which you see from the ridge, since most of it is closed Ministry of Defence land.
Our list has no zoo, no theme park and no big family attraction. Rousham and the Wroxton Abbey grounds are not on our list. The Abbey itself is a college and not open to visitors. For bigger names, day trips from Banbury covers Warwick, Stratford and Blenheim, and one day by car strings the Civil War sights together.
A moat, a brewery, a free museum, an open winter gallery, and a hill.
All places
Historic houses and heritage · Broughton
A moated medieval manor house near Banbury, turned into an Elizabethan mansion by the Fiennes family, tied to the opposition to Charles I and seen in Shakespeare in Love and Wolf Hall. Open on Wednesday and Sunday afternoons, April to September.
Dog-friendly · Walker-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
Historic houses and heritage
A National Trust house on the Edge Hill ridge, remodelled in the 1920s for the oil magnate Lord Bearsted to show his paintings by Bosch, El Greco, Stubbs and Hogarth, above terraced gardens that drop 30m to a Mirror Pool.
Family-friendly · Dog-friendly · Rainy days
Verified Nov 2026
Tours and experiences · Hook Norton
A family brewery in a Victorian tower at Hook Norton, with a steam engine of 1899, Shire horses that still deliver to two village pubs, and tours at £25. The climb is over 100 open steps, and there is a gentler monthly option. Shop and kitchen open daily.
Dog-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
Museums and galleries · Banbury
Banbury's free town museum, on the Oxford Canal with an entrance in Castle Quay: Bronze Age finds, a cannon from Banbury Castle, plush cloth and a canal gallery, with paid touring exhibitions and a canalside café.
Family-friendly · Rainy days · Car-free
Verified Nov 2026
Museums and galleries
An art gallery in a Robert Adam house in a Capability Brown park, about 25 minutes north west of Banbury, with six permanent collections and changing shows. Open Wednesday to Sunday, all winter too. Adults from £22.50 in 2026, and 18 and under free.
Family-friendly · Dog-friendly · Rainy days
Verified Nov 2026
Parks and gardens · Burton Dassett
A hundred acres of open hilltop in south Warwickshire with wide views, old quarry workings and a beacon, plus the medieval church of All Saints. A country park since 1971. Car parking £3.50 a day.
Dog-friendly · Family-friendly · Walker-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
Sights you can walk up to without a ticket.
Sight · Monument · Banbury
The cross of the nursery rhyme stands at the top of Banbury High Street, but it is a Victorian monument of 1858 to 1859, put up about 250 years after the town's medieval crosses were pulled down. Grade II*, free and seen from the street at any time.
Sight · Monument · Banbury
A bronze of the rhyme's fine lady on her white horse, on a Hornton stone plinth where South Bar meets West Bar in Banbury. The people of the town paid for it, and the Princess Royal unveiled it in 2005. Free to see at any time.
Sight · Castle or ruin · Deddington
Grassy ramparts up to 15m high are what is left of Deddington's Norman castle, which belonged to William the Conqueror's half-brother. Now the village park and sports field, free in daylight, with English Heritage caring for the inner bailey. Earthworks only.
Sight · Common or park · Banbury
Banbury's largest park, 26 acres split by the River Cherwell with the Oxford Canal along one edge: play area and skate ramps on the town side, woodland walks and nature trails across the wooden bridges. Free, with free parking on Grimsbury Green.
Sight · Common or park · Banbury
Banbury's town centre park, opened in 1919 to mark the peace, with an aviary of budgies and cockatiels, a walled garden, rose garden, bowling green, tennis, a play area and a café. Free, and run by the town council.
Sight · Bridge · Cropredy
The bridge over the River Cherwell at Cropredy, north of Banbury, where a royalist army beat Sir William Waller on 29 June 1644. This is a 1937 rebuild faced in old Hornton stone, with an inscription on its south side. Free to see at any time.
Seasons opening, new exhibitions and things worth the drive, about once a month.
On an open afternoon, Broughton Castle, 2.5 miles from the town. On any other day, Upton House or Compton Verney, depending on the month. Our Banbury guide covers the town.
Compton Verney opens from Wednesday to Sunday through the winter, when most houses are shut, and the Banbury museum is free and open all year except Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day and Easter Sunday. Upton House keeps winter hours, so check its season page.
Burton Dassett Hills to run about, Sulgrave for dressing up, and Silverstone Museum for racing fans. Compton Verney is free up to 18. A day with children gives a plan for the town.
Yes, book online or by phone. The climb is over 100 open steps and there are no under-12s. The Steep Brewery Experience, without the stairs, runs on the last Wednesday of each month, and anyone can come for the kitchen, shop and museum.
Not the house, which is a college and not open to visitors. The village website says the grounds may be viewed from dawn to dusk, without dogs, and a public footpath crosses them. Our page has what you can see.
What is on, what is new and what is in season in Banburyshire, in your inbox about once a month.