Review of Oxford University Museum of Natural History

This review of Oxford University Museum of Natural History originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

Fantastic, engaging collections: especially great for children with lots of hands-on opportunities to talk about fur, feathers, teeth, and bones.

Review of The Key Medical Practice

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.

Review of University Parks

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!

Review of Boots

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.

Review of Sainsbury’s Petrol Station

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.

Review of The Cake Shop

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.

Review of Cook

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.

Review of Deepdale Shopping Park

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.

Review of Cutteslowe and Sunnymead Park

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.

Review of Avenham and Miller Park

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.

Review of The Jolly Boatman

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.

Review of The Blackpool Tower

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.

Review of Miller & Carter Kidlington

This review of Miller & Carter Kidlington originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

Shared a delightful tenth anniversary meal here recently. Hadn’t booked, but despite being busy they managed to squeeze us in. Enjoyed the third-best steak I’ve ever tasted, plus delightful deserts and a range of exciting cocktails all at a price point that’s very reasonable for what you get.

Review of Cygnet Nursery Kidlington Ltd

This review of Cygnet Nursery Kidlington Ltd originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

Loving, friendly staff provide a great environment for fun and development for babies through preschoolers. Failed an Ofsted inspection in 2016 but were swiftly able to act upon the report and make the necessary changes and have since gone from strength to strength (once this is out of recent memory, I’d upgrade my review to 5 stars).

Of particular credit to them is the diversity of play and learning activities they provide and their thorough feedback to parents on their children’s development.

Review of Transmissions: Element 120

This review originally appeared on Steam. See more reviews by Dan.

What do you expect for free? Well whatever you expect, you should expect more. This game takes the engine and content you know and love from Half-Life 2, updates it, and dumps you into a whole new narrative with some fun new concepts (like using lights and darkness to manipulate enemies) and battles that should challenge even the most-hardened Half-Life player.

And did I mention it’s free? Go play it, and then go make a donation to the charity that the author recommends on their website. Worth every penny.