On a warm afternoon in early July each year, central Oxford fills with small girls in blue pinafores, top-hatted Mad Hatters, large plush rabbits with pocket watches, and a steady drift of families between the Story Museum, Christ Church and Alice's Shop on St Aldate's. Alice's Day is the city's annual celebration of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and it is anchored on the date the story itself began.

That date is 4 July 1862. On the afternoon of that day, Charles Dodgson — mathematics tutor at Christ Church, who wrote fiction under the pen name Lewis Carroll — took the three daughters of the Dean of Christ Church on a rowing expedition out of Oxford. Wikipedia, summarising Dodgson's diaries, records that "it was on one such expedition on 4 July 1862 that Dodgson invented the outline of the story." He told it as they rowed; the middle Liddell daughter, Alice, asked him to write it down. He eventually produced a handwritten, illustrated manuscript titled Alice's Adventures Under Ground in November 1864, and the expanded book was published as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in 1865.

When and where

Alice's Day is held on a Saturday in early July, traditionally close to the 4 July anniversary. The 2026 festival falls on or around Saturday 4 July 2026; the Story Museum publishes confirmed dates and the venue programme in late spring.

Activities are spread across central Oxford and run through the day, typically from late morning to early evening. Most are free; a small number have ticketed limits because of venue capacity.

The Story Museum

The festival is organised by the Story Museum on Pembroke Street, just behind St Aldate's. The museum's stated mission is "to encourage education and support community engagement by exploring all forms of stories", and its building contains a Whispering Wood, an Enchanted Library, a small theatre and rooms set up for younger children. On Alice's Day the museum runs back-to-back readings, dressing-up sessions, illustration workshops and trails through its galleries, all themed on the book.

Partner venues

Other Oxford institutions join in each year. The exact list changes; the regulars are:

Christ Church — Dodgson's college and Alice Liddell's home, where her father was Dean. The cathedral cloister and meadow walks are the usual route.
The Bodleian Library — readings and curated displays of Carroll-related material from its collections.
Alice's Shop on St Aldate's, opposite Christ Church — said to be the model for the Old Sheep's shop that Alice visits in Through the Looking-Glass.
The University Botanic Garden, the Sheldonian quarter and Oxford parks have all hosted Alice-themed picnics, tea parties and croquet sessions in different years.

What to expect on the day

The format is family-first: trails between venues, costumed performers reading set-piece chapters aloud, croquet on lawns, jam tarts on long tables, characters from the book wandering the Story Museum's rooms. Many children come in costume; the Story Museum keeps a small box of spare ears and tails for those who turn up without.

Crowds peak in the middle of the afternoon. Mornings at the Story Museum are usually the calmest window, and the Christ Church grounds are at their best later in the day once the lunchtime visitor wave has moved on.

Getting there

Walk — the Story Museum is on Pembroke Street, a five-minute walk south of Carfax via Cornmarket and St Aldate's. Christ Church and Alice's Shop are a further two minutes south on the same street.
Train — Oxford station is a ten-minute walk via Hythe Bridge Street and Cornmarket.
Bus — any St Aldate's-bound service stops within a few minutes' walk.
Drive — not recommended; central streets are busy and parking is limited. Pear Tree and Thornhill park-and-ride sites are the practical options.

Nearby food and drink

The Story Museum has its own cafe but it is small and runs out of seats early. The surrounding area has the usual central-Oxford options:

The Covered Market — the easiest sit-down lunch within five minutes' walk.
The Ashmolean Museum cafe and rooftop restaurant on Beaumont Street — useful for a quieter break.
The Turf Tavern — further north, but a good end-of-day stop if you walk on through the colleges afterwards.

One fact worth knowing

The river trip on which Carroll first told the Alice story did not start at the Story Museum or at Christ Church Meadow but at Folly Bridge, a few minutes' walk south of Christ Church on St Aldate's. The boat went upstream to Godstow that afternoon. The Wikipedia article on Carroll notes that the regular destinations for such expeditions were "Nuneham Courtenay or Godstow." Folly Bridge is still where the punt-hire boats leave from today, and the walk along the river to Godstow is open footpath the whole way.

Sources

Wikipedia — Lewis Carroll: 4 July 1862 boat trip; Alice Liddell as daughter of the Dean of Christ Church; November 1864 manuscript of Alice's Adventures Under Ground; 1865 publication of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; Nuneham Courtenay and Godstow as boat-trip destinations.
Wikipedia — Story Museum: location, mission, building features.
The Story Museum — storymuseum.org.uk — festival programme and dates.

Alice's Day in Oxford