On the other side of the road from the University of Oxford Botanical Gardens, by the base of the old sandstone Magdalen Bridge, is the boat hire company. There are a number of other locations where you can hire boats but this is the largest.

It can be expensive if there are only two of you but the bigger the group the cheaper the cost per person as the price is divided by how many get in the boat or punt. You can pay extra for a member of staff to punt your skiff for you and to be provided with a bottle of wine. Oxford University students can use punts for free as most colleges have their own boats.

Punting can be a hard art to master. I bet you find it harder than it looks at first. You get used to it after 10 minutes, but it is quite a strange skill. Once you get the hang of it you can move at quite a speed. Be careful as It is very easy to lose your balance especially if you have had too much, beer, wine or Pimms and lemonade.

I would recommended taking a change of clothes just in case. Remember that it is traditional to punt from the flat end of the boat. Look out for the swans as they can be vicious and they will also try to steal your picnic. Punting and messing about on the river is one of my very favourite Oxford activities.

There is nothing better than on a lazy summer afternoon, cruising along the river Thames or Cherwell, having a laugh with a bunch of good mates and stopping in at the various pubs getting merry en route to nowhere. Another place to hire a boat is from the Cherwell boathouse company. Follow the Banbury Road north out of Oxford, and turn into Bardwell Road on the right. The Cherwell boathouse is down a narrow lane towards the end of the road.

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