Pitt Rivers museum, Oxford with a baby

I spent four very happy years at university in Oxford, and as several friends have lived there on and off over the decade plus since I left, I’ve been back for more visits than I can count before planning this trip to the Pitt Rivers Museum with a baby.

But this day out in Oxford was just a bit different – for starters, it’s the first time I’ve pushed a buggy through the city. And, to my slight shame, it’s the first time I’ve made it to the Pitt Rivers museum.

Yep, my three-month-old and I were finally going on an outing which required me to drive for more than about 10 minutes without any adult supervision. I still feel slightly like we’re taking baby steps together, as Oxford is only an hour or so from my house, but where better to start than somewhere I know – and more to the point, somewhere where I’m less likely to get horribly lost en route.

Thankfully, Minnie played along and promptly fell fast asleep almost as I turned out of the drive, with only a few grumbles as I accelerated unintendedly quickly from some lights outside Oxford.

She even pulled the same trick on the way home, although with a lot more yelling for the last 10 minutes, including during the tricky parking manoeuvre needed for our driveway. Fortunately I only lightly brushed the bush as she distracted me. Honest.

So after our safe arrival, the big question was what to do in Oxford with a baby? After lunch with one of my oldest friends, we set to debating what the three of us could get up to for the afternoon.

Oxford has plenty of very child-friendly activities including for toddlers and preschoolers, but Minnie’s still at an age where she doesn’t really care what she does, although if there’ are trees to look at, that’s a bonus.

That meant I got to pick an adult-friendly activity and try to work out how to do it with a buggy, as I’d intelligently left the baby carrier at home.

And actually if you’re consider the Pitt Rivers museum with a baby, it’s pretty good at ticking both boxes (for older kids, grab the free family guide book). Plus, it’s free.

Officially it houses ‘the University of Oxford’s collection of anthropology and world archaeology’ – in reality, it’s like a fabulous treasure trove meets jumble sale of fascinating odds and ends picked up from around the globe, which now totals nearly half a million objects.

As well as weaving through an obstacle course of glass display cases, a totem pole, and schoolchildren sketching (although not by the assorted death ritual paraphernalia unsurprisingly), you can open some of the drawers to find additional hidden artefacts.

It all feels faintly like going through a retired Victorian explorer’s drawers.

Minnie was still a little bit young for any of the Pitt Rivers Museum family trails, even the one aimed at under-fives, but they’re a good way to start exploring the displays.

Because there’s such an incredible variety to see: an axe head dating back to as far as 8000BC, for example, along with pieces from Papua New Guinea to Mexico, Scotland to Pakistan.

Some of the most famous are also the most controversial: the Benin bronzes had been on display with the approval of the Royal Court of Benin but are due to be returned to Nigeria, for example – if you’re visiting with teens, there are some great conversations to be had about decolonisation and colonial power.

EDIT: The museums most famous exhibit, the Pitt Rivers shrunken heads were removed from display in 2020 over ethical considerations, while the museum works with delegates of the Shuar people to look at the most appropriate steps.

There’s a little way to go before I get into those debates with my own daughter admittedly.

On a practical level, buggies are welcome in the museum and the Bugaboo Bee snuck around even the tighter corners happily, although I wouldn’t fancy trying it with something too much bigger.

As one of the lifts was out of order during our visit, a helpful member of staff even offered to help carry it up and down the few stairs.

As a bonus, you also get to walk through the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, with its impressive dinosaur skeletons and dodo skull, to reach the Pitt Rivers which is at the back of the same building

Minnie certainly seemed to approve, as I wheeled her round, although it seems the excitement was just too much as after we’d checked out one of the temporary exhibitions, she was promptly lavishly sick.

Luckily, there are also baby changing facilities on the ground floor, pointed out by the same helpful member of staff.

And afterwards a quick walk through the University Parks, which are right next door, so perfect for combining with a family visit to the Pitt Rivers museum or Oxford Natural History Museum – and which has some significantly more interesting trees than our local park (not just in Minnie’s eyes) – before it was time to head back home.

Of course, Oxford has more museums and history than you can shake a dreaming spire at, so at least one return visit is in order to discover just how child-friendly the rest of the city is (not at all a spoiler: very).

For starters, despite years of lectures next to the Ashmolean, I never managed to make it inside there either…

But now we’ve taken the next step in our ever more adventurous series of days out, surely it can’t be long!

To read more about our days out at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History – discover what we though of a visit with a toddler and a visit with a preschooler as well as more ideas of the best things to do in Oxford with kids.

Pitt Rivers Museum with kids: Need to know

Entry to the museum is free, as are the family trails (which you can also download from the website).

If you’re visiting with kids older than a baby, check out the regular family activities too and other temporary family trails – for example, a Northern Lights trail in association with other sites including the Oxford Story Museum, as well as a trail for under-fives.

There’s no cafe in the Pitt Rivers Museum but there is one upstairs in the Oxford Museum of Natural History next door.

Otherwise you’re welcome to picnic on the grass out front (if the weather is good) and University Parks is just around the corner, but you can’t eat inside.

There are accessible toilets and baby-changing facilities, and breastfeeding is welcome.

Parking for the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford

Parking in Oxford is tricky to find – during visits when my daughter was younger, you used to be able to find spaces (if you were lucky) around Norham Gardens, easy walking distance from the Pitt Rivers Museum.

These days, you need to pay for parking and it’s not cheap: £5 per hour. The nearest car park is St Giles car park, which costs the same.

The best option is to use one of the Park & Ride services around Oxford – there are five to choose from, and it costs £4 for a day’s parking and return travel on the bus for one adult and three children (£5 for two adults and up to three children).

The quickest option is the Pear Tree Park & Ride in North Oxford, it takes around 10 minutes (get off around the Observatory and Keble College rather than going into central Oxford) then less than 10 minutes walk to the museum.

Otherwise you can use any of the other Park & Rides: Redbridge Park and Ride in Iffley (if you’re coming from the south of Oxford) is also a good option – around 15 minutes on the ST1 bus but you can get off at Parks Road, which is less than five minutes walk from the Pitt Rivers.

Otherwise Seacourt and Thornhill (Sandhills) are the next closest but each involves a 15-20 minute walk as well as a 10-15 minute bus ride. 

*First published 2012, last updated 2023*

Exterior image courtesy of Depositphotos, all other images copyright MummyTravels

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