Category: Personal

This review of The Key Medical Practice originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

Professional, clean surgery with a caring, compassionate staff. Sometimes hard to get an appointment or even to get through on the phone at peak times.

This review of University Parks originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

Beautiful, well-maintained, sprawling parks owned by the University. Great spot for a picnic or the sport of your choice, or just a delightful walk. Note that no bicycles are allowed even if not ridden!

This review of Boots originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

Large, conveniently-central branch of this chain store. Good range of products. Knowledgeable staff at well-stocked pharmacy. Reasonable lunchtime “meal deal”. Lunchtime queues are often long, even for self-checkouts.

This review of Sainsbury's Petrol Station originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

Reasonable filling station: all the common fuels, plus (free) air. Sometimes very busy, and an awkward exit that involves a late-merge into a queue of traffic leaving the supermarket, which means you’re at the mercy of others to let you merge (and at busy times you can wait a while). Only possible to exit onto Southbound carriageway, but Kidlington roundabout nearby if you need to turn North.

This review of The Cake Shop originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

We’ve had several custom-made cakes produced by The Cake Shop – for a wedding, for birthdays, for a corporate event – and have always been impressed by their ability to turn our ideas into confectionery! They’ve always been happy for us to try samples of the cake and cream fillings that they’re proposing for a given design and to explain to us what they can and can’t do within the limitations of icing (and how they might work around them!). Much of their work is showcased in their window (which seems to have a perpetual throng of tourists) and their website so you get every opportunity to judge for yourself how these imaginative cakesmiths can make your party extra-special.

This review of Cook originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

Frozen food that doesn’t taste like “frozen food”, and helpful staff who’ll help you find exactly what you’re looking for.

This review of Deepdale Shopping Park originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

Strange mixture of the kinds of shops you expect in a retail park plus a few out-of-place “for trade” outlets. Insufficient parking at peak times, presumably because they keep building more outlets on what was car parking space, and terrible traffic: avoid coming by car, if possible, especially on match days at the nearby football stadium.

This review of Cutteslowe and Sunnymead Park originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

Beautiful sprawling Oxford park with a huge variety of things to do: the modern railway (check opening days in advance), aviary, duck pond, sports courts, and multiple children’s play areas including sandpits and – in the summer – a new ‘water play’ area (bring a towel and a change of clothes!). Central cafè is good for snacks and ice creams but less-good for hot food. Parking is priced as you’d expect for Oxford: bring change for the machines as they don’t give any and while you can pay by phone there’s a service charge for doing so.

This review of Avenham and Miller Park originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

Sprawling park near Preston city centre in the style of a London park: long boulevards, well-manicured lawns, fountains, a folly, and a riverside walk. Recently enhanced with the addition of children’s play areas and a cafe, but the real joy here is the timeless pleasure of a meandering walk through the various gardens.

This review of The Jolly Boatman originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

We’d visited before and enjoyed ourselves on several ocassions previous, but our last visit was appalling: incredibly slow service (despite booking and it being relatively quiet) and a disappointing mixture of dried-out-by-reheating and just-plain-cold food alongside the kinds of things you’d get at any chain pub for a lower price.

This review of The Blackpool Tower originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

Compared to trips here in my youth, this iconic tourist attraction now seems very expensive (with ‘modular’ pricing: no more can you just buy a ticket and enjoy the day, you must buy tickets for each individual experience, and activities like Jungle Jim’s – which seems much reduced from its origins layout – have time limits). Long queues, particularly for getting up to and especially getting down from the tower itself.