The Vaults & Garden (Oxford, England)

The Vaults & Garden is Oxford's hidden gem café, with history, ambience, and views that are not to be missed!

By: Alisha Trenalone

Jet lag is the worst, am I right? My first night in England after a transatlantic flight was marked by the kind of exhaustion that, thankfully, doesn't come around too often. Everything seemed a little bleak. But the next morning brought a tiny bit of renewed energy with it, and I set out to explore Oxford.

The Vaults & Garden Café kind of saved me that first morning. It was a dose of comfort and beauty in the middle of a new city, and it became one of my favorite places to relax in Oxford. Here's how to find it and what to try!

Finding The Vaults & Garden Café

Once you've found your way to Radcliffe Square (between High Street and Broad Street), The Vaults & Garden is not too far away.

Most visitors to Oxford will at some point end up in this square, checking out the Radcliffe Camera, a giant domed building that's part of the Bodleian Library complex.

On one side of the square is the University Church of St. Mary, and on the left side of the building you'll see a narrow arched doorway on the ground level. This is how you get to The Vaults.

The Vaults Café is housed in a room dating back to 1320, where Oxford's university council would meet.

The vaulted ceilings and stone walls give an almost meditative feel to the café, although most mornings you'll also find it to be a fairly bustling and chatty place.

I returned to the café multiple times, and I'm hard-pressed to say whether I enjoyed sitting inside or outside more. If the weather's decent, it's really hard to resist an outdoor table with the view of Radcliffe Camera and all the other university buildings on the perimeter of the square.

The Menu at The Vaults

The café is open for breakfast, lunch, and afternoon tea. I used it as a coffee break place, at different times enjoying slices of delicious sourdough toast and jam, or a scone, along with an Americano.

The coffee offered at The Vaults is the "shade grown" type, which doesn't require deforestation to cultivate. The café's overall approach includes organic ingredients, minimal sugar and oil, and avoidance of potentially toxic kitchen materials.

Learning this afterwards made me feel pretty good about eating here! For more information about their style of preparation (and a look at the menu!), check out their website.

If you decide to go for a full meal here, you'll have lots of gourmet options, including curries, soufflés, soup, rarebit (a cheesy sauce on toasted bread), and more.

If you are visiting Oxford, do seek out this tucked-away café! Want a pub experience later on in the day? Head underneath the "Bridge of Sighs" to the Turf Tavern. And for a day trip, you might enjoy nearby Blenheim Palace and afternoon tea at The Orangery.