Staycations: the joys of local exploring
Living in Banbury gives me so many fab opportunities for staycation days right on my doorstep. I have joked for years that the tagline for Banbury should be ‘Banbury, you can get there from here.’ And since we’re on a long weekend, it felt like a perfect time to share again why I think local days out and nearby adventures are a great way to recharge.
One thing to clarify before I wax lyrical about staycations. I don’t define a staycation as domestic tourism as seems to be more and more common these days. I define a staycation as not traveling to other accommodations, staying at home with day trips to local attractions. You define it however you like. But that’s what I mean when I use the phrase.

6 Reasons to choose a staycation:
- Time friendly and time efficient: staycations mean you don’t have to be at an airport 2-3 hours before your flight. You don’t spend time flying, getting to and from airports at both ends. You start your adventure faster and have more time to enjoy! As for when to take them – they fit in almost anywhere: long weekend, regular weekend, random day off? We’ve even done a week-long series of staycations. It was fantastic!
- Less stressful: overall planning is less involved, bookings are often much less complicated, no airport queues, no cancelled flights or missed flights or late flights. No lost luggage. Heck, no packing (other than maybe a snack in the tote bag) and no post-trip laundry marathons.
- Easier on the wallet: amazing how not having to pay for flights or accommodation can enhance a day’s fun. Also, staycations don’t require visas, travel insurance, or currency exchange. Will you spend money? Yes. But you’ll be spending money on the food, the fun and the finding out about stuff. Not on the paperwork and logistics.
- Discovering hidden gems: I’ve enjoyed countless places that never make it to the top ten places to visit, never get mentioned on travels – but which are all talked about in local groups, found in brochures on display at local museums and on flyers around town.
- Reducing environmental impact of travel: No one can change the impact of travel and tourism on the environment on their own. But everyone can do their part. I’m not saying you shouldn’t go on longer trips or further distance trips – but you don’t have to do it every time the travel bug bites.
- Support local economies: I am a huge supporter of #ShopLocal and staycations are one way to help sustain local jobs, businesses, attractions, and communities. You can’t buy these experiences online.

5 staycation destinations near Banbury worth exploring:
- Oxford: 20 minutes by train. What could be easier and quicker? The Bodleian tour alone is worth a day in Oxford to me. It was one of the first things I did on my first trip to Oxford and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
- British Motor Museum: We’ve gone a few times and it never ceases to impress – even if you are not, strictly speaking, a petrol head.
- Cotswold Wildlife Park: this may be one of the best wildlife parks I have ever visited and I have visited a LOT. It’s just outside Burford (a nearly picture postcard perfect village worth a visit on its own) and contains 160 acres of well thought out paths, enclosures and displays of wildlife from rhinos to red pandas. I will never, ever get enough of red pandas.
- Hook Norton Brewery: never heard of it before moving to Banbury and I suspect most people traveling to the UK will never hear about it either. Whisky distilleries, yes. Wineries, sure. But not this. And that’s a shame because it is a true gem and if you can go there, you really ought to. Naturally, the tour includes not just seeing the brewing in action but samples as well.
- Sulgrave Manor: We’re always told about national trust properties (plenty of those around Banbury – Upton House, just one fine example) and we hear about Blenheim (everyone loves a palace) and we have a local castle (Broughton, which will be familiar to anyone who watched Wolf Hall). But rarely does Sulgrave get mentioned except locally. As an American, I was very amused to hear that George Washington’s ancestral home was basically 15 minutes away.
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What are your favorite local day trips? Maybe you’ll help someone near you find hidden gems near them!