Bicester with children: days out for families

The best things to do in Bicester with children are the play area and skate park at Garth Park, the climbing walls at Clip 'n Climb, the pool at Bicester Leisure Centre and, on one of its open days, the Scramble at Bicester Heritage, which has free children's activities. With a car, add the free exhibitions at the RAF Upper Heyford Heritage Centre, which has quiz trails and a toy area, and lunch by the canal at Kizzies in Lower Heyford, where boats and trains pass the same garden.

How we chose: from each place's own pages and the council's, read in November 2026. We have not taken children to any of them for this page, so judge the timings against your own family. Nothing here is paid for. Prices carry their year, and they change, so check before you book.

Garth Park and Bure Park

Garth Park is the place to start, and it is free. It is about 9 acres of lawns and big trees round Garth House on Launton Road, a few minutes' walk east of the Market Square. The town council lists a play area with more than 45 pieces of equipment for children aged 2 to 14, a skate park that opened in February 2019, an outdoor gym, a bandstand and a café, Garth Park Kitchen, with public toilets outside it. Look for the bell of 1732 by the house, once the call bell of the old Town Hall and Shambles, and the German telephone box given by Bicester's twin town. Parking at the park is limited, so use a town car park: parking in Bicester has them.

Bure Park Nature Reserve, on the north side of town, is wilder: meadow, young woodland, hedges and a pond fed by the little River Bure, where great crested newts live. Natural England lists no visitor facilities, so bring what you need. The council's West Health Route, a 5km loop on a painted blue line, ends through it by a tunnel under the railway. The map data shows double cycle barriers in places, so check them before you take a wide pushchair.

The Bicester Historic Town Trail suits older children who like spotting things: a running fox on a weathervane on number 47 Market Square, a stone in St Edburg's churchyard for the cholera victims of 1832, and one of only two thatched buildings in the town on Church Street.

Climbing, swimming and films

For a wet day, Bicester has three indoor options within the town. None has a listing on this site yet, so the facts are from their own sites.

Clip 'n Climb Bicester, on Bessemer Close, has more than 20 climbing lines and a drop slide. Its site gives climbing from age 4, with family sessions at 9.30am on Saturdays and Sundays (the first session of the day in the holidays) where children from 2 can climb with the rest of the family, at £10 a climber. Two- and three-year-olds need an adult with them one to one. Standard sessions were £13.95 off peak and £16.95 at peak times when we checked in November 2026. In term time it is closed on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and it asks you to book online to secure a place. There is a café.

Bicester Leisure Centre's own page lists a 25m pool and a 15m learner pool with public swimming sessions, and swimming lessons for children. Parts of the centre were closed for works in the summer of 2026, so check the current swimming timetable on its site or ring 01869 253914 before you go.

The Vue cinema is in the Pioneer Centre on Bure Place, by Pioneer Square, and its listings include morning screenings for children, which it calls Mighty Mornings.

Cars and aircraft: Bicester Heritage and Heyford Park

Bicester Heritage, the old RAF Bicester on the Buckingham Road, is the place for children who like cars, but only on its public days. At the Scramble, held several times a year, the workshops open and owners' cars fill the avenues. There is The Little Top play area for children and a Mini Lander driving experience. Everyone needs a ticket bought in advance, including children: a child ticket covers ages 5 to 14, and under-5s go free but still need a ticket. Dress for the weather, because most of it is outdoors.

The RAF Upper Heyford Heritage Centre at Heyford Park, about five miles west of Bicester, is free and opens on Wednesdays and Sundays from 10am to 4.30pm and on Saturdays from midday. Under-16s must come with an adult. It has quiz trails, colouring sheets and a toy area, and its exhibitions and toilets are wheelchair accessible. The guided tours of the shelters and the nuclear bomb store, on most Sundays from March to November at £25 a person in 2026, last the morning on uneven ground, with toilets only back at the centre, so they suit older children with a real interest. We found no age limit for the tours, so ask the centre when you book. The story of the airbase and RAF Bicester are both good reading for a teenager first.

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Boats and the canal at Lower Heyford

Heyford Wharf, on the Oxford Canal at Lower Heyford, is the easiest place near Bicester to be by the water with children. Kizzies is the café there, open daily from 9am to 5pm, with most of its tables in a large garden by the moorings and the railway passing too. It sells ice creams in the shop and takes no bookings.

From the same wharf, Oxfordshire Narrowboats hires day boats for up to 10 people from mid March to the end of the October half term, from 9am to 5pm, and provides buoyancy aids for under-16s and non-swimmers. Heyford station, on the Banbury to Oxford line, is beside the wharf, so a family from Banbury could come by train, though trains are infrequent, so check the timetable.

Christmas in Bicester

Bicester Town Council's Christmas lights switch-on fills Sheep Street on a Saturday afternoon in late November, with seasonal entertainment, and a Santa Fun Run follows in early December: the event page has this year's dates. Bicester Village runs its own Christmas market with Diddly Squat Farm beside The Double Red Duke, though it is aimed at shoppers more than children.

Eating out and staying with children

The Littlebury Hotel, on Kings End near the town centre, has a children's menu at £9.50 on its sample Sunday lunch menu, and family rooms with a king-size and a single bed. The Oxford Arms at Kirtlington has a children's menu and a garden away from the road. The Muddy Duck at Hethe, north of the town, has a children's menu and has run a sushi workshop for children. Where to eat in Bicester has the rest.

For a night away, the Travelodge on Pioneer Square has family rooms but no car park, and the Holt Hotel near Steeple Aston has family rooms for up to four. Where to stay in Bicester compares them.

What to skip with children

Skip Rousham: its own site says no children under 15 without prior permission, and there is no tea room. Skip Alchester, the Roman town south of Bicester, which is under farmland with nothing to see. Do not drive to Bicester Heritage on an ordinary weekday, when the site is closed to the public. Bicester Village is a long day for small children, so if you are going for the shops, plan an hour in Garth Park, a short walk away, to break it up. For a bigger choice, Banbury with children has a museum, two parks and boat trips, 12 to 19 minutes up the line from Bicester North.