Oxfordshire

The city probably punches above its weight in terms of museums and galleries. But why not start with Britain's oldest museum, the Ashmolean, which has grown even bigger and better and fuller of glass tunnels since its recent refurbishment.

Oxford's Ashmolean is the country's oldest public museum and quite possibly the oldest museum in the world. Its collections span 5000 years, from Prehistoric Europe, Classical Greece and Rome, to the Renaissance, right up to the present day.

Amongst the Museum's treasures are the world's finest group of drawings by Raphael; the famous Arundel marbles; the Pissarro family archive; and the foremost collection of modern Chinese art in the west. The Museum is home to the greatest collection of Predynastic Egyptian material outside Cairo, and iconic pieces such as the Shrine of Taharqa and the Princess's Fresco. The new galleries redisplay the collections with state-of-the-art lighting and showcases. There's the cultural tag team of the Pitt Rivers and Natural History Museums and there's the lovely, funny, inventive Story Museum, which is dedicated to creativity and the imagination and has a nonsense telephone box adorned with fairy lights to prove it.

Groups can discover 1000 years of Oxford's History in a guided tour at Oxford Castle & Prison Banbury's modern canal-side museum offers exhibitions and events for the whole family. Hands on displays tell of the town's origin and history. The Civil War, plush manufacturing, the Victorian market town, costume from the 17th century to the present day, Tooley's Boatyard and the Oxford Canal, are just some of the stories illustrated in the museum. For thirsty groups why not visit Hook Norton Brewery museum the Brewery Museum is housed above the shop and visitor reception area, part of a Maltings dating from the late 18th century. It contains artefacts of the brewer's art covering 150 years, including hops, malting process, wort cooler, cooperage tools and old bottling equipment. It leads on to the Hook Norton Village.