Best pram to buy for Oxford?

[pregnantinoxford]

Hi everyone

I'm currently struggling with gazilion different pram options and wondering whether anyone has recommendations for Oxford? I live in East Oxford and mostly travel in and out of centre. I occasionally walk down the river or to the park (South Park / Univ Park...).

Current options are:

• Uppababy Vista: reviews tell me this is the perfect pram, but is it too big for Oxford?
• iCandy Cherry: reviews are good, but few things I'm not convinced about (2 piece fold, etc).
• Bugaboo bee: though I'm pretty sure I don't want this, as I don't like how low it is, but it remains an option if this is THE pram for Oxford...

Looking for something from newborn. Will mostly be walking, but imagine I'll occasionally get on the bus / train to London. We live in a house so no issue with stairs but our corridor is not very wide.

I fell in love with the UppaBaby Cruz when I went to look at prams - previously I'd been interested in the three you mention above. I just liked the feel better and it was a lot lighter. Worth trying? They have it at the Oxford Pram Centre if you want to have a look locally.

No pram recommendations here, as my needs were different to yours.

But be sure to get a sling as well as the buggy - it's ten times easier to hop on and off the buses and get round the shops in city centre!! I think you'll find that you'll go into city centre much less often with a baby than you used to because it is such a pain.

Start paying attention to which times of day your local buses fill up with buggies so you can avoid travelling at those times. It's no fun to have a tired crying child, wait what seems like ages for the bus to arrive, and then be unable to get on without collapsing the buggy. Where I live the times to avoid are school run / nursery run times.

I live in Oxford and walk most places.

I've had three children and several prams. My favourite pram is the Stokke Xplory. Absolutely loved it. Child nice and high so no car fumes and lots of conversation not only with me but also with shop assistants etc. Fine on local buses and trains. Not sure about the Oxford Tube or X90 to London as never tried (see below). Downsides: if you have a baby and a toddler you may have problems as there is no possibility of adding a buggyboard. Hopeless for putting in cars. (Or that might just have been me!)

A Phil and Teds would be sensible if you are planning on having another child before the first one is four or five. (Realistically, three- and four-year-olds can walk a fair distance but if you're trying to walk into town and back it could take all day!)

Finally, it doesn't really matter what else you get, you WILL end up getting a Maclaren Techno (or similar) for trips to London/keeping in the car/air travel etc. Don't fight it. They are brilliant, sturdy, you can manipulate with one hand while holding struggling toddler in the other and it can comfortably seat a child up to the age of three/four. And you can put a buggy board on. But don't economise by getting the very basic one without the hood and raincover. We do live in Britain.

Oxford Pram Centre is good. Stokke and Phil and Ted's are well demonstrated at the Nursery Shop in Abingdon. Don't ever go to Mothercare at the weekend and expect to get help chosing prams (or car seats) :)

I would second the user who suggested getting a sling as well. We're blessed in Oxford to have a great Sling meet where you can try different slings and get lots of advice.

Have a look here for details of the meet up and some other options too.

There's also the Pushchair and carseat showroom in Wallingford - the advisors there are really helpful and knowledgable. They don't rush you and you can give everything a really good testdrive.