An alternative guide to Oxford has been created by some of the city's homeless community.

The web page, at www.oxfordnightshelter.org.uk has been created by members of Oxford Night Shelter in Luther Street and offers tips to newcomers trying to find their feet in the city.

Advice includes day-to-day information such as where to find a cheap and tasty meal and details of local parks, to more important contacts such as numbers for doctors' surgeries.

Iain McDiarmid, training, education and activity co-ordinator, said the project had started life as an idea for a book.

He said: "We got the idea from a similar project in London called Living in Lambeth and thought it would be a good idea to do a kind of alternative guide to Oxford.

"There are lots of tourist guides at the high end of the market for people visiting the city, but not much to help people perhaps without that amount of money to spend.

"We hope the website will not only be used by members, but can offer advice and tips to the wider community with phone numbers and information on everything from doctors' surgeries to line dancing classes."

The page can be accessed via the Night Shelter's main website and includes a map of Oxford with links to the different areas in the city which have been researched by individual users of the centre.

A donation of £5,000 by the Westgate Development Partnership has enabled the shelter to invest in cameras for users to photograph areas around the city and upload them on to the page.

The project has gone down well with the participants, who described collecting the information as 'good craic'.

Mark Knight said: "When you have a camera in your hands, it makes you really look at things and see them differently. It's good for people to see the different side of Oxford."

Owen Evans said: "It would have been a useful resource when I had my last flat."

Mr McDiarmid said the next step for the website would be a comment panel where members could write about their experience.

He added: "The best thing about it is that rather than constantly giving people help, it gives them the tools and opportunity to help themselves and each other."