* THE Royal Oak in Woodstock Road, Oxford, is now ready for all your festive gatherings and Christmas dinners. There is a new festive menu and a new offer. If you book any time before January 31 for a party of six or more, you, the party organiser, will get a voucher for a free bottle of Prosecco. (Or an appropriate replacement if the Prosecco happens to run out. But it won’t. We hope.) Food from the festive menu also comes in handy packages: two courses for £17, three for £30, and four for £22. For more information go to theroyaloakoxford.co.uk or call 01865 310187.

* The Old Parsonage Hotel in Banbury Road also has something going for it this Christmas. It is offering a unique Christmas package with Bucks Fizz in bed, breakfast and a Christmas feast (of the traditional type) in the restaurant, a walk around Oxford and midnight mass. All from £592. But it also has a new Christmas set menu. For £40 you can enjoy everything from roasted squash soup with chestnut crème fraiche to rib eye steak frites and salad with sauce béarnaise (although that’s £5 extra). For more information and to book go to oldparsonage-hotel.co.uk

* The Rose in High Street, Oxford’s own excellent tea room, has changed owners. The restaurant, which closed for refurbishment two weeks ago, is now open again. Run by Engl and the two Jays, it aims to be the same place we have all grown to know and love. To book go to the-rose.biz or call 01865 244 429.

* The Weber Grill Academy has won a Silver at Beautiful South Awards – obviously a well-deserved recognition of its great service for foodies and barbecue-lovers all over the South of England. Hopefully, this will also encourage those believers of experimentation rather than guided learning to enrol and start producing perfect barbecues. For more information go to grillacademy.co.uk or call 01865 341341.

 * And, with the Advent season officially on, it is fitting to end with something that might just make this marvellous festive period of present and food-related stress a bit less stressful. COOK are offering a range of Christmas dishes at set prices to help you survive all those proper family meals with no (more) grey hairs. Whether it’s stuffed crown turkey or pigs in blankets or shredded brussel sprouts that you are looking for, COOK can help. They can even help if your Christmas menu must is a white chocolate & raspberry cheesecake (or if it isn’t a must but you think it sounds just perfect). So relax and put that cook book down.

For more information contact Kristie Davies at 01865 554268.