Last checked November 2026.
Oxfordshire has Oxford in the middle, the Thames running past Abingdon, Wallingford and Henley, the eastern edge of the Cotswolds around Burford, Woodstock and Chipping Norton, and the chalk downs of the Vale of White Horse and the Ridgeway in the south-west. For a campervan, the things to know are Oxford’s driving rules and where you can sleep. Oxford has a small zero emission zone and, since September 2026, traffic filters that motorhomes can’t drive through at set times, so the park and rides are the easy way in. All five councils ban sleeping in their car parks, with one exception: four motorhome bays at Hales Meadow in Abingdon. For everything else, plan on campsites.
Where you can and can’t stay overnight
There’s no general law in England against sleeping in a van that’s legally parked on a public road, but local rules are common and you have to read the signs. There’s no right to wild camp in a vehicle anywhere in England: you need the landowner’s permission. The National Trust doesn’t allow overnight parking at any of its places, White Horse Hill included. A council can also direct people living in a vehicle on a roadside or other land to leave; ignoring the direction, or coming back within three months, can mean a fine of up to £1,000. More in wild camping and free camping.
Breaking a council’s car-park order gets you a penalty charge notice, £50 or £70 in Oxfordshire, halved if you pay within 14 days. Council by council:
- Oxford City Council: sleeping in your vehicle isn’t allowed in any of its car parks, park and rides included, and nor are camping or cooking. You can leave a van overnight in most of them, but it’s never free.
- Vale of White Horse (Abingdon, Wantage and Faringdon): the council’s car-park orders ban sleeping, camping or cooking without its written consent, except in the marked motorhome bays at Hales Meadow in Abingdon (below).
- South Oxfordshire (Henley-on-Thames, Thame, Wallingford and Didcot): the council’s 2024 order bans sleeping, camping or cooking in its car parks.
- West Oxfordshire (Witney, Burford, Woodstock, Chipping Norton, Charlbury and Carterton): parking is free, but the council’s order bans sleeping or camping in its car parks without written permission. The council says there are no motorhome spaces and no overnight camping, and its wardens check the 3,500 kg weight limit. Marriotts Walk and Woodford Way in Witney have height restrictions.
- Cherwell (Banbury, Bicester and Kidlington): the council’s order bans using a vehicle in its car parks for camping, eating, sleeping or as a place to live, and an occupied caravan or caravanette between dusk and dawn can get a penalty charge notice. Vehicles over 2.9 m wide or 10 m long need written consent, and a van that takes up more than one bay pays for each.
If you do stop on a road, park facing the direction of traffic at night, use your parking lights on roads with a limit over 30 mph and in their lay-bys, and don’t block anyone.
Hales Meadow motorhome bays, Abingdon
Hales Meadow car park, Culham Road, Abingdon OX14 3NN, is the only council car park in the county where you can sleep in your van. It’s on the A415 going south from the town, just across the river bridge, and the Redbridge park and ride is just up the A34. The Vale of White Horse council has four motorhome bays here, with no height barrier, and motorhomes can stay up to three days. If you’re sleeping overnight, ring the car parks team on 01235 470118 (leave a voicemail out of hours). Pay at the machine by cash or card, or by phone with location code 810573 for motorhomes; the motorhome rate is on the tariff board. There are toilets. Under changes the council consulted on in spring 2026, the motorhome permit would be £10 for 24 hours, for up to 72 hours, with no return within a week.
Rye Farm, the bigger car park next door, used to be a handy overnight stop. It now has a 2 m height barrier, a 23-hour maximum stay and the ban on sleeping, so use Hales Meadow instead.
Driving into Oxford
The zero emission zone
Oxford’s zero emission zone (ZEZ) is a small pilot area in the city centre around Cornmarket Street, Queen Street, New Inn Hall Street, Ship Street and St Michael’s Street. Any vehicle driven in it between 7am and 7pm, every day, pays a daily charge unless it’s zero emission: £2 for ultra-low emission vehicles (under 75 g/km CO2), £4 for vehicles that meet Euro 4 petrol or Euro 6 diesel, and £10 for everything else, such as an older diesel camper. There’s no charge for a vehicle parked in the zone that doesn’t move. Pay online, up to six days before, on the day or in the six days after; miss it and the penalty is £60, or £30 if paid within 14 days. In 2025 the council scrapped the rise in charges planned for that August. A wider zone has been proposed, but in spring 2026 the council was still preparing a new programme for consultation.
The traffic filters
Since 28 September 2026 Oxford has six traffic filters, camera-enforced points on Hythe Bridge Street, St Cross Road, St Clements Street and Thames Street (7am to 7pm every day) and on Marston Ferry Road and Hollow Way (7am to 9am and 3pm to 6pm, Monday to Saturday). You can’t pay to go through. The filters apply to cars and motorhomes, which the council defines as vehicles with M1 type approval, electric ones included; vans and other vehicles can go through at any time. Check your vehicle’s type approval on the V5C or with the DVLA vehicle checker. A blue sign warns you 80 yards before each filter. The fine is £70, or £35 if paid within 21 days, but during the first six months of the trial the first time you go through gets a warning notice instead. The council says everywhere in Oxford can be reached without going through a filter now that Botley Road has reopened.
Park and ride
Driving a van into the middle of Oxford isn’t worth it. Leave it at a park and ride on the ring road and take the bus. There are five, all open 24 hours, with a maximum stay of 72 hours. You can leave a vehicle overnight at the normal charges (£2.50 for up to 16 hours, £4.50 for 16 to 24 hours), but you can’t sleep in it. Until 31 March 2027 a £3 Park + Bus ticket covers up to 16 hours’ parking and the return bus for up to five people.
- Redbridge, south of the city off the A34 from Abingdon (OX1 4XG). The car entrance has a 2.1 m height limit. The council recommends the Redbridge Coach and Lorry Park for motorhomes: enter from Old Abingdon Road behind the Travelodge, not the main entrance. It has 34 spaces, no booking, and motorhomes pay £9 for up to 24 hours, for up to six days. You can leave the van overnight, but no sleeping, camping or cooking. Toilets are in the park and ride building, open 8am to 8pm.
- Oxford Parkway, north of the city off the A34 and A40 (OX2 8HA). The main entrance has a 2.1 m limit; drive on past it to a small high-vehicle area with a few spaces.
- Pear Tree in the north (OX2 8JZ) has a 2.3 m height limit, Seacourt on the Botley Road (OX2 0HP) 2.2 m, and Thornhill in the east off the A40 (OX3 8DP) 2.1 m.
In the city centre, Worcester Street and St Clement’s car parks have no height barriers, but your van has to fit inside a marked bay. Oxpens has a 2.1 m limit, and the underground Gloucester Green car park 1.83 m.
Campsites
There are campsites all round the county, and several are open all year. Seasons are for 2027 where they’re published, and they change every year, so check before you travel. Book ahead for summer weekends and bank holidays, when many sites have minimum stays.
| Area | Campsite | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Burford | Burford Club Campsite (Caravan and Motorhome Club), Bradwell Grove, OX18 4JJ | Tel: 01993 823080. 19 March to 1 November 2027, non-members welcome. Vans up to 9 m |
| Burford | Wysdom Touring Park, off the A361, OX18 4JG | Tel: 01993 823207. Open all year, adults only. No commercial vehicles, vans included, so check first if yours is a van conversion |
| Standlake, near Witney | Lincoln Farm Park, High Street, Standlake, OX29 7RH | Tel: 01865 300239. March to early November. All pitches hardstanding |
| Charlbury | Cotswold View Caravan and Camping, Enstone Road, Charlbury, OX7 3JH | Tel: 01608 810314. 25 March to 31 October 2027. Grass, hardstanding and serviced pitches |
| Chipping Norton | Chipping Norton Camping and Caravanning Club Site, Chipping Norton Road, Chadlington, OX7 3PE | Tel: 01608 641993. 22 March to 25 October 2027, non-members welcome. No motorhome service point |
| Chipping Norton | Cotswold Hills Country Park, Hook Norton Road, OX7 5TE | Tel: 01608 644860. Open all year. Caravans and motorhomes |
| Kidlington and Woodstock | Greenhill Leisure Park, Station Road, Bletchingdon, OX5 3BQ | Tel: 01869 351600. Taking bookings through the winter. Adults only, vans up to 8 m |
| Bicester | Glebe Leisure Touring Caravan Park, Stoke Lyne Road, Fringford, OX27 8RJ | Tel: 01869 277800. Arrivals from noon all year. Fully serviced hardstandings, motorhome waste point |
| Banbury | The Pig Place, Aynho Road, Adderbury, OX17 3NU | Tel: 07892 879447. Adults only. Grass pitches, no showers. Open into the winter while the ground stays firm |
| Henley-on-Thames | Swiss Farm Touring and Camping, Marlow Road, RG9 2HY | Tel: 01491 573419. 12 February to 5 December 2027. Pitches up to 10 m, motorhome service point. No commercial vehicles |
| Wallingford | Bridge Villa Camping and Caravan Park, Crowmarsh Gifford, OX10 8HB | Tel: 01491 836860. February to December. Vans over 2 m tall check in at reception, as the height barrier is usually shut from 7pm to 8.30am |
| Benson, near Wallingford | Benson Waterfront, Benson, OX10 6SJ | Tel: 0118 942 8782. Adults only. Fully serviced hardstandings by the Thames |
| East Hendred, near Wantage | Muster Point Campsite, Featherbed Lane, OX12 8JF | Tel: 07939 186575. Campervans only: grass pitches and tight access, so no caravans or heavy motorhomes |
The Caravan and Motorhome Club’s Henley Four Oaks site, next to Swiss Farm, is closed for rebuilding and expects to reopen on 25 June 2027, for members only. Members of the Caravan and Motorhome Club and the Camping and Caravanning Club can also use the clubs’ small certificated sites, which take up to five vans and are often on farms. Since 2023 pop-up sites in England can open for up to 60 days a year and take motorhomes and campervans as well as tents. Brit Stops members can stop a night at farm shops, pubs and other hosts that take self-contained vans.
Getting there and driving
The M40 from London runs up the east side of the county past Bicester to Banbury. The A34 runs north to south past Oxford, from Bicester down to Abingdon, Didcot and Newbury, and the A40 comes in from London and High Wycombe in the east and from Cheltenham and Witney in the west. The A420 comes in from Swindon.
There are no clean air zones in Oxfordshire; Oxford’s zero emission zone and traffic filters (above) are its own schemes. Campervans and motorhomes up to 3.05 tonnes unladen have the same speed limits as cars: 60 mph on single carriageways and 70 on dual carriageways and motorways. Heavier motorhomes are limited to 50 mph on single carriageways and 60 on dual carriageways.
Woodstock, Burford and the Cotswolds
West Oxfordshire takes in the eastern edge of the Cotswolds National Landscape. At Woodstock, Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with 2,000 acres of gardens. Burford, Charlbury and Chipping Norton are good bases, with campsites near all three.
White Horse Hill and the Ridgeway
The Uffington White Horse is a Bronze Age chalk figure on the Ridgeway escarpment, looked after by the National Trust. Above it, Uffington Castle, an Iron Age hillfort, is the highest point in Oxfordshire at 262 m. The National Trust car park (sat nav SN7 7QJ) costs £2 for up to two hours or £4 for the day, free for members, with no overnight parking. The Ridgeway National Trail, known as Britain’s oldest road, runs 87 miles along the chalk hills from Avebury to Ivinghoe Beacon, past the White Horse. Muster Point at East Hendred is the nearest campsite on the list above.
More on England
- England by campervan
- Gloucestershire, for the rest of the Cotswolds
- Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, down the Thames and over the Chilterns
- Wiltshire, for the other end of the Ridgeway
- Warwickshire, the next county north
- London
- Campsites
- Wild camping and free camping
- UK campervan hire
Sources: Oxfordshire County Council (zero emission zone pages and charging order variation 2025, traffic filter pages); Oxford City Council (overnight parking, large vehicle parking, park and ride and car park pages); Vale of White Horse District Council off-street parking places orders (2022) and Abingdon car park pages; South Oxfordshire District Council off-street parking places order (2024) and car park pages; the South and Vale review of off-street parking orders (2026); West Oxfordshire District Council off-street parking places order (2021) and where to park page; Cherwell District Council off-street parking places order (2011) and conversion order (2021); National Trust; National Trails; Blenheim Palace; gov.uk (speed limits, clean air zones, Highway Code); Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994; the Caravan and Motorhome Club, the Camping and Caravanning Club and campsite websites; checked November 2026. Know of a change? Tell us in the comments below.