At Bicester Village, A Summer Of Sports, Luxury And Fine English Excellence

The view from the window turns from a suburb grey to a storybook’s green somewhere past Haddenham. You feel it exactly the moment it happens: the signal drops half a bar, the fields turn from patchwork to properly green, and the person across the aisle finally closes their laptop. By the time the train pulls into Bicester, you have already left London behind in every sense, although the city is barely forty-six minutes back down the track. Just a stone’s throw away is The Cotswolds, a rising tourist destination in its own right.

Bicester Village is the first of The Bicester Collection’s twelve Villages, exclusive hamlets across Europe that gained popularity as luxury shopping destinations that offered 5-star hospitality and the most sought after names in thge world of luxury at just a fraction of their full retail prices.

Once you arrive, the fastest way to get your bearings is The Villager, a seasonal newspaper edited by reputed travel writer and columnist Melinda Stevens. Grab a copy at a handful of London and Oxfordshire hotels, at Marylebone station, in the Village itself, and at Shreeji News. Inside are curated itineraries of the best of both London and Oxfordshire that the village has to provide: restaurants, historic houses, sporting fixtures and the like, all written like advice from a friend who knows the area like the back of their hand. 

Summer, especially, is the best time to visit Bicester Village. The season brings a curated group of cultural tastemakers, from acclaimed actress Katie Leung and Maharaja of Jaipur Padmanabh Singh, writer and cultural commentator Chris Black and DJ and creative Jason Stewart, to offer a personal view of the British summertime.

What To Do

As the founding Village of The Bicester Collection, Bicester Village has spent nearly thirty years building a reputation for luxury retail and genuine savings. More than 150 boutiques line pedestrianised streets modelled on the Oxfordshire villages surrounding them. 

This season's capsule collections follow the sporting calendar so closely that you could plan a wardrobe around the fixtures alone. On the tennis side, Lacoste's Roland-Garros collection has a trike built for the Village's cobbled streets, while Ralph Lauren offers a Wimbledon capsule steeped in tennis whites and old court manners. Motorsport gets its own corner: Tommy Hilfiger's collaboration with the Cadillac Formula 1 team brings a second race simulator, a photobooth and its own trike, and ELEMIS folds the horsepower theme into a Formula 1 skincare capsule that promises performance in a rather different sense. For everything in between, Arc'teryx contributes a trail running line built for terrain rather than pavement, and Eleventy's golf capsule adds an Italian read on the fairway.

Between shopping sprees, if you’re looking for a place to chill, the lawns beside the Village's newest restaurant hold The Duke's Summer Garden from 26 June until the end of August, a new entertainment space built in partnership with The Double Red Duke. The bar here is made from a converted Land Rover Defender car, and its signature Paloma and outdoor screening venue make for a fine session to enjoy the summer's key sporting fixtures, be it Wimbledon, Formula 1, or whatever the season has to offer.

Speaking of Formula 1, BOSS and Apple have paired up to put a Vision Pro headset on Village guests to create an immersive 3D simulation of a race. The spatial technology behind it builds a three-dimensional track inside the headset, precision tests and virtual laps included, close enough to simulate the real experience of being in the seat of a Grand Prix driver. 

This screen turns the lawn into an open-air cinema for The King's Summer Cinema, a complimentary series running throughout the month. The programme includes classics and comfort films you already know you love, be it Notting Hill or a Disney hit. Food and drinks are are available throughout the night, with eateries located conveniently for you to stop by after a few hours of boutique-hopping and community screenings.

Where to Eat

At Bicester Village, every Tuesday is Steak Night. Served weekly at The Double Red Duke, Wimbledon fortnight brings a tradition across from the outlet's original home in Clanfield: chips and salad alongside a properly cooked steak and wine. The rest of the week is covered too. All-day dining spans Cecconi's and La Tua Pasta for Italian, Ottolenghi for a Southern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern spread, The Double Red Duke itself for a proper British menu, and Shan Shui for Asian cooking, with several more kitchens filling in the gaps between them.

Between major meals, Tease’s new leche lift smoothie is built for the kind of heat that makes you rethink your itinerary, while Fortnum & Mason has a whole menu built around the soft serve, reworking a very English idea of indulgence into something you will eat standing up, unbothered by how it looks.

Live music runs on the side. Starting from June, Village terraces fill every Friday evening as Ottolenghi, La Tua Pasta and Cecconi's take turns hosting, plates and glasses moving outside as the sun drops and the temperature finally turns forgiving. After The Duke's Summer Garden opened its gates, the weekly ritual sometimes shifts there, too.

And for anyone who would rather leave with a suovenir, Charles Tyrwhitt is putting a signed rugby jersey up for one lucky Village member to win. Every corver of The Village has something waiting for you, so that you discover something new every time you stop by.

Find out more about the Village here.