The Boat Race: Every spring since time immemorial (1856), the Universities (both of them) have competed in a race along the Thames, from Putney Bridge to Chiswick Bridge. A simple competition between two school friends has morphed into a national obsession, televised live every year, with flocks of spectators crowding along the banks of the Thames. Wearing slightly the wrong shade of blue in the pub can get you mugged (not really) and enterprising householders charge £50 a time to peer over their back garden fence.

The race takes place on the 3rd April, starting at 4.30pm. You can see it anywhere along the river from Putney Bridge upwards, but expect the banks to be crowded! An estimated 1/4 million people watch the race in person, so even with 4 miles of course (with much of the banks open to the public), you'll have to arrive early or strategically employ elbows to get a good view. If in doubt of which team to support, simply shout "Come on you blues!"

The Boat Race was also the forum for the much-missed Harry Carpenter to utter such immortal commentary as "I can't see who's in front, but it's either Oxford or Cambridge" and "That's nice, the wife of the Cambridge President is kissing the cox of the Oxford crew."

Easter Services: If you'd like to attend a Christian (or Pagan, Jewish, Muslim or other) religious service over Easter, why not have a look at our Worship events listing?

Oxford Fringe Festival: This upstart rival to the big summer theatre festivals in London & Edinburgh seems to grow by leaps and bounds every year. There are now over a hundred shows on, mostly short theatre and kids' events, but with an extraordinary range of other stuff too! For listings and reviews, see our Oxfringe 2010 page.

OxJazz: Oxford's one and only jazz festival, from 1st-4th April, is a great opportunity to hear some great alternative music in some local venues. Also, you can win tickets at our competition page!

True, you can buy a mass-produced, over-packaged, mid-range Easter Egg from any supermarket in Oxford (for the sake of completeness, Debenhams, BHS and Boswell's are all also selling Easter-themed chocolate). But Oxford also contains a selection of brilliant shops specialising in chocolate (and fudge, and sweets!)- so if you'd like browse a wide selection of tasty, unusual and exciting chocolates, try one of the following:
(If you prefer your chocolate free, you can also win prizes in our Photographic Easter Egg Hunt)

Chocology, Covered Market: Part of a small chain, Chocology has an astonishing selection of high-quality Belgian chocolates, ranging from delightful melted chocolate drinks to huge eggs adorned with gold leaf (see left). Prices range from £12.50 for a 240g egg to £34 for half a kilo of chocolatey goodness.

They also offer a range of dairy free, gluten free, and diabetic (no added sugar) chocolate, in egg, bar and boxed selection form- so the special diabetic coeliac lactose-intolerant someone in your life needn't feel left out of Easter. You can browse the selection on their website.

Coco Noir, Headington: A new addition to Oxford's chocolate scene, Coco Noir has a brilliant rococo interior and a great selection of chocolates, especially eggs and mixed boxes of specialist chocolates (see our review, below).

All of Coco Noir's chocolate is handmade in Brussels by one of the two partners who run the business. Their charming bunny (£9 for 250g of chocolate) is visible on the right, and they have a wide range of other chocolates, delivered at regular intervals from Belgium (from £4.50/125g for Grand Place Belgian chocolate). Their darkest chocolate is the tasty Ganash variety (68% cocoa). Highly recommended.

Mr Simm's Olde Sweet Shoppe, the High Street: A new addition to Oxford's High Street, Mr. Simm's has replaced the late, lamented Waterfields. I loved browsing Waterfield's extraordinary selection of rare books, but never quite got round to buying anything. By contrast, after five minutes in Mr. Simm's I had already purchased a bar of whisky-and-raisin flavoured chocolate, and was eyeing a selection of boiled sweets and a packet of Jack Daniel's fudge with interest. The place is an Aladdin's cave of old favourites and exotic new delights. Their pick ‘n' mix selection is especially impressive- it takes up an entire wall of the shop, behind the counter!

Their Easter selection is comparatively slender, but they do have an impressive range of chocolates on offer, all produced by a specialist chocolatier. This includes diabetic-friendly and dairy-free chocolates (as well quite a range of unusual flavours, although I am informed a lemon meringue pie chocolate bar is still in the pipeline). Up to 68% cocoa, all price range. Even the jaded or the chocophobic will be certain of finding something to excite them. So will everyone else, for that matter.

Gatineau, 209 Banbury Road: What was once Patisserie Pascal is now a delightful French delicatessan with a quite impressive range of chocolates and Easter eggs (see our review, below). The crowning glory is surely the hand-spun dark chocolate Easter egg, weighing in at 7.5 kilos (or 3 pounds) of pure delicious chocolate. You cannot buy this egg; however, you can enter a raffle, with donations going to Helen & Douglas House (closes 31st March, so be quick!). Their eggs (see right) are beautifully presented, if a little on the pricey side; £16.90 for a dark chocolate presentation egg with five foil-wrapped truffles on the side. They are also delicious, unusual and Chocolate up to 70% cocoa.

Fudge Kitchen, Broad Street: Not, strictly speaking, a chocolate shop, but many of their varieties of fudge contain chocolate, and they're all bloody delicious (see our review, below). Part of a nationwide franchise, Fudge Kitchen has over 20 varieties of creamy sugariness, all freshly made. Turn up at the right time (about once an hour) and you can see the fudge being poured onto the cooling table from huge copper cauldrons. £14.99 for four (very substantial) slices in a presentation box or £19.99 for six.

The Cake Shop, Covered Market: are only selling one egg, but it’s got a rather special selling point: they’ll personalise you for it with your name (or, for that matter, someone else’s) while you wait. You can even choose which one of their beautiful designs you’d like (see left). £6.50 for ~200g.

The Cake Shop were also commended by Oxford County Council for having greatest proportion of chocolate to packaging in the city, ahead of every supermarket brand. Did you know that it is illegal to sell a product with "excessive" packaging, for instance? This information brought to you courtesy of the riveting Oxford County Council report "Easter Eggs and their Packaging" (2008).

Thornton's, Cornmarket & the Westgate Centre: Huge chocolate chain with two conveniently located Oxford branches, although you'd be wiser going into the Cornmarket branch if you just wish to purchase Easter treats. The Westgate centre doubles as a chocolate-based cafe and ice-cream parlour, meaning it's rather busier. The Cornmarket branch has a range of chocolate to suit all tastes and prices. From 2 smaller eggs for £5 up to the extravagant “Warren Bunny”, 1500g of rabbit-shaped chocolate for a mere £49.99 (see top of page). They go up to 60% cocoa, and have loads of diabetic chocolates.

Hotel Chocolat, Queen Street: Major high-street chain with a fairly impressive selection of tasty chocolate, but an unfortunately zealous brand management team. We cannot therefore provide you with photos, price or product information, or cocoa content. Their liqueur chocolates, however, are impressively alchoholic. Cheers!

If you can't make it to any of these, you could always try Daily Info's photographic Easter Egg hunt- no walking necessary! (Unless you want it to be.) You can win free chocolates! Still not sold? Determined to go out and look for actual, physical eggs? Then try:

2nd, 3rd & 4th April: Past Times is organising a Turl Street Easter Egg Hunt, with £1 entry fee going to Oxford Children's Hospital. Great prizes to be won!

2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th April: Great Easter Egg Challenge at Blenheim Palace. Trail of clues around the Pleasure Gardens. Complete the hunt to receive a prize.

4th April: Maggie's Easter Egg Hunt at Waterperry Gardens. Money raised to Maggie's Cancer Caring Charity.

4th April: Big Iffley Easter Egg Hunt at Prince of Wales pub, Iffley. "Children" of all ages welcome.

Got an Easter Egg Hunt you'd like listed here? Contact us.

We gathered a selection of chocolates from around Oxford and put them through the vigorous review process that characterises Daily Info: we ate them. And now you get to read what we thought of them!

Mixed Selection from Gatineau: A cute pink box turned out to conceal a bewildering (and occasionally unsettling) selection of chocolates. As we passed tiny slices from hand to hand, we competed to guess the flavours. Most difficult? Definitely the grapefruit heart! But all were tasty, no matter how unusual they were. Excellent quality chocolate, but the great range of fillings were definitely the high point.

As the office allergy-sufferer pointed out, the fact that the chocolates came without a guide to their flavours added a frisson of danger to the experience, since she couldn't be sure whether any contained nuts.

Daily Info's Pick For: Best "Bored with Supermarket Selection" Option

Mixed Selection & Valentino 60% cocoa bar from Coco Noir: This box of chocolates was like a miniature version of the shop it came from: beautifully decorated, stylish and full of hidden delights. We thought the flower tucked into the wrapping ribbon was an especially nice touch! The chocolates were excellent, a great selection of high-quality truffles, fruit-flavoured and caramels. Many were made of deliciously dark Ganash chocolate, but there was a nice milk of milk and white chocolates too- and these were still bursting with creamy richness.

Also in Coco Noir: The Puur 60% cocoa bar is as dark as Belgian chocolate gets, apparently, and any initial disappointment arising from this fact was cancelled out immediately upon eating. As velvety smooth as a milk chocolate, whilst with the slightly bitter edge of dark and a pleasingly layered/crumbly 'mouthfeel' (a tad like a bubbleless Wispa!), this 55g bar from Valentino Chocolatiers in Belgium is remarkably moreish and complex for something with only 5 ingredients. Yum.

Daily Info's Pick For: "Tastes As Good as it Looks" Award

Personalised Easter Egg from the Cake Shop: Cursing ourselves for not getting "Daily Info" inscribed on the front of this egg with icing sugar, we could still only marvel at how great it looked. It wasn't just the glittery sugar butterflies perching on the side of the egg. The box was also attractive, very reminiscent of a pirate's treasure chest, and made of sturdy enough cardboard to be reusable. The chocolate was tasty, too; perhaps a little too sweet and insubstantial for some, but perfectly passable.

Daily Info's Pick For: Great with Kids!

Fudge from Fudge Kitchen: We had two thick slices of fresh fudge, one chocolate, one toffee flavoured. They came wrapped in refreshingly oldfashioned waxed paper, with a runcible spoon (that's a knife-fork combo to you and me) on the side. The taste was divine- creamy, classic and with a slight saltiness to prevent it becoming overpoweringly sweet, it was everything caramel fudge should be! The chocolate flavour wasn't quite as good, but still rich, flavoursome and satisfying. Two slices did leave us feeling very full, though- they're almost too generous!

Daily Info's Pick For: Chocophobics

Many shops (even those normally open on Sundays and Bank Holidays) will be closed Easter Sunday. Most others will have reduced opening hours on Good Friday and Easter Monday. We'd suggest checking before you decide to go shopping on these days! Below are some opening hours of essential services (and supermarkets) in Oxford:

The Covered Market will be open from 10am-4pm on Good Friday, 8am-5.30pm Saturday 3rd April (as normal), and closed Easter Sunday & Monday. Individual shop opening times may vary.

Boots on Cornmarket will be open: Good Friday, 11am-5pm, Saturday 3rd April, 8am-7pm, Easter Sunday, Closed, Easter Monday, 11am-5pm. Boots on Cowley Road will be open: Good Friday, 10am-4pm, Saturday 3rd April, 9am-6pm, Easter Sunday, Closed, Easter Monday, 10am-4pm.