Shotover Country Park, a great countryside dog walk in Oxfordshire

This country park at the edge of Oxford, covering 117 hectares (289 acres) on the slopes of Shotover Hill, offers amazing views and makes for a great dog walk in Oxfordshire. The park is abound with hidden valleys and is ideal for peaceful countryside enjoyment.

I would call this track a bit of a hidden gem, at least for me, as the gang knows Oxford very well and has never come across this lovely park. 

Distance	Total Time	Difficulty
4.69 km	01:12	Easy

Shotover Country Park offers 3 waymarked trails, ranging from 20 minutes to 2 hours.

The park was part of a Royal Forest, a hunting ground, and provided timber for many of Oxford’s buildings. In 1660, Shotover became an open farmland. In the late 1930s, Oxford City Council started to manage Shotover as a park.

The car park is free and the road to get there is a single lane, so go slowly. We used the full address on the satnav again, rather than just the postcode, as the postcode alone won’t take you to the car park. The full address is Shotover Country Park car park, Old Road, Headington, OX3 8TA.

I would recommend taking a photo of the trails panel at the start of the hike, it is located straight after you get into the site from the car park. It helped us find ourselves, because even though the trail is well marked, some of the waymarks are very old, and you can’t see the direction the arrow is pointing to.

Don’t forget to check the post notes at the bottom of the page, with maps, a detailed table about the hike and links to everything mentioned in the post.

The Hike

As usual, the gang started at the car park and followed the longer, green-marked trail. The start is a big grass field, with some picnic tables available on the right side and a lovely view of Oxford.

We got into the woods after a short walk down the path. Straight away, we could see that this area must be beautiful in another season but it was still looking very good, even in February.

It is worth mentioning that although there are dog waste bins at the car park, there aren’t any during the rest of the trail. 

This section, going down a slope gently, was definitely my favourite part of the trail, loads of trees and very tranquil. There weren’t many people around, but everybody we saw was walking their pooches.

The whole trail is a mix of woods and big grass fields, and it is quite lovely. 

When we left the Horseshoe Field, turning left, there was an open area with a dirt road that took you straight back to the car park. We saw some cyclists at this section. 

Overall, it was a great walk, and another one the gang will visit again in spring or, more especially, in the autumn. There are many options of mixing and matching the different trails.

Cheers,

Ademar