Venue: Rhodes House Accommodation
Address: S Parks Rd, Oxford OX1 3RG
Email: accommodation@rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk
Tel: 01865 535806
Website: https://www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/venue-hire/accommodation/
Date of stay: 9-11 July 2025, 4-6 June 2025 and previously 13-15 March 2024
Price paid: £204 a night June and July 2025 stay; £190 March 2024 stay.
I fund all my travel myself it is not recharged via expenses.
Welcome to my second ‘For Me’ review. For those that are new, my dad would give his assessment on things by saying “for me…”and then said if it was, or wasn’t, for him. Usually with a wave of the hand. He was unequivocal. Also for those that are new, these reviews are by someone - me - who has actually paid their own money. No freebies. No special treatment. I just write up the places I go to as the normal person I am. Read here why this is so important to me.
This post is free, but in time I may put these reviews up for paid subscribers only.
Last year (2024) I went to Oxford to interview one of the university’s neuroscientists for my piece for the Guardian on anhedonia (feeling flat). I partly love, partly hate finding somewhere to stay when I travel. I love it because I like the organising part and I like finding great places to stay, but the flip side is sometimes you never find somewhere you’re really sure of and that puts a hum of uncertainty over the whole trip.
One of the things I tend to do when I’m looking, is to send an email to the establishment first, asking a question I want to know the answer to but also seeing if they respond, and how. This is often a good - but not infallible - way to find out if they give a shit. I find if they don’t at this juncture - when you’re about to book - they won’t later. It’s not infallible because I have had amazing email responses from some places, only to find when you get there the ‘don’t really give a shit’ still comes into play.
There are no shortage of places to stay in Oxford but a friend suggested staying at university halls, which vary wildly in both facilities and availability. There was one which came highly recommended and you ate breakfast in a grand hall, but they hadn’t made their rooms available yet. And also, whisper it, that sort of English-boarding-school-eating-in-halls vibe isn’t really my jam.
By chance I found Rhodes Hall. The accommodation is purpose built - ie it’s not accommodation that students live in the rest of the year.
Rhodes House is set on South Parks Road right next to the Oxford Natural History Museum, it’s an old but recently refurbished and cleaned up building and is beautiful. It felt immediately familiar and safe - really important for me as I do some much solo travelling. The real star, however, of Rhodes House, is Sharon who manages (dare I say runs?) the accommodation. On seeing I was a single woman on my booking, she automatically put me on the first floor. Her kindness and attention to detail is extraordinary and on my 2024 trip she really helped me out when I had a problem.
So when I had to head back to Oxford I didn’t bother looking anywhere else and booked myself into RH.
The Rhodes House Trust is a charity. I honestly don’t really know or understand what it does (do you study there?) but for the purposes of this, I don’t have to.
It underwent a multi million pound refurbishment five years ago, completed in 2023.
The accommodation is in two parts - the Arts and Crafts style building (the period rooms) or modern ones in the courtyard (courtyard rooms). They are very different. Period rooms have stone mullioned windows (which open to let fresh air in, a big plus for me). Some of the rooms are like staying in a country house and are big and airy, some have twin beds. I found the double beds small - fine if you’re on your own but if you’re with someone you might find them a bit tight (I’m a total princess and have a super king size bed at home so this is my benchmark). None of the rooms have baths and the showers are adequate but nothing great, certainly not power showers.
The courtyard rooms are warmed with a ground source pump. They also have little windows that open (I think above the doors). Courtyard rooms have a very different vibe, think Swedish mid-century kinda thing, but all are essentially at ground floor level. Both are lovely though.
You can see pictures of both, here.
I’ve always stayed in the period building. In room 10 on my first visit, which was a really spacious room, a chaise longue and a great desk to work at. My second visit saw me in Room 11 which was significantly smaller but still had a desk although it was small. Room 15 on the second floor was big (if you do yoga bring your mat, plenty, easily room enough to do yoga) with a triple aspect and it’s up in the eaves. It had a lovely attic feel but one of the windows looked out onto South Parks Road and was noisy. The rooms get hot in summer but windows open in the period building.
Security here is tight. You enter via a lodge which is manned 24hrs a day and the doors are all security locked and accessed by keycard. I felt very, very safe. Also my rooms have always been able to be locked from the inside with a snib lock. There is one accessible room in the period building on the first floor which is accessible by lift if it’s working. It wasn’t when I visited in June and July 2025. You can’t have visitors without permission and no children under sixteen can stay. Note no TV. I was really glad I’d bought my little Roberts Radio.
There’s a cafe on the ground floor (you have to go outside to get to it but it’s on site) which serves very nice but fairly basic breakfasts (check menu before you go) and whilst they do have oat milk you can’t have it made into a cappuccino or latte or any hot drink because the machine that makes hot drinks is pre-loaded. Great bread and overnight oats which is what I have (I bring my own nut butter as they don’t have any) and the toast they make takes ages but is lovely. They also do really good lunches now. Subsidised prices. Cafe opens at 8am - 5pm Monday to Friday. 8am- 10am at weekends. These times may change.
What you get:
Super clean, super nice accommodation
Very quiet unless people are eating on the tables outside the cafe and chatting, but no traffic noise unless you’re in one of the rooms that looks out onto South Parks Road so do check if this is important to you.
No sheets or blankets available (much to my chagrin because regulars will know I like sheets and blankets).
Independently heated towel rail in some rooms (this is also always on my tick list)
Bath towel, hand towel, shower mat to step onto, no flannel
Hand wash, shower gel + shampoo and conditioner (no body lotion or anything like that)
Capsule coffee maker, kettle, with coffee and tea provided. Only UHT milk in those little packets, but they do also provide Oat UHT.
One carton of still water
No fridge
The shower was adequate but not amazing.
You might want to bring: cotton wool pads, body lotion, a shower cap, a flannel
There was lots of room to put my stuff.
For me: Definitely.
Update July 2025. Having stayed here on one of the hottest days of the year I can tell you that it gets hot here. I can’t imagine what it’s like in the courtyard rooms, the period house is probably cooler. There is no air con in any of the rooms but the gardens are lovely - a real asset - and you can get a nice cool breeze of an evening. If aircon is really important to you then best stay somewhere else. I also had lunch from the cafe here and it was delicious: think Ottolenghi style salads but at half the price. The lift still wasn’t working, they are waiting for parts.