Cambridge, England: Cream Teas and Ancient Bookshops

This English city has other attractions besides Cambridge University.

“I recommend Cambridge, not Oxford,” said my English friend while I was planning my day trip from London. “Oxford is gloomy and depressing.”

She was right. Cambridge, seat of higher learning, is light and elegant. Though academia sets the tone, the city, we discovered, has much more to offer besides the famous Cambridge University.

We took the National Express motor coach (which is British for bus) from London’s Victoria Coach Station. The two-hour bus trip to Cambridge, cheaper than a train, proved to be a good idea since it put us downtown at Drummond Street, across from one of the oddly named green spaces in Cambridge, Christ’s Pieces.

Cambridge is an angular city full of traditionally erect buildings, manicured squares of lawn, green quadrangles and dramatic spires.

At King’s College, we entered through the gate and followed a symmetrical, red gravel footpath past the rooms and chapel to arrive at the riverbank where we could watch visitors punting along the Cam River in small, flat boats.

Punt rental is available at Scudamore’s Punting Company on Mill Lane, as it has been for generations of students.

Punting seems an inefficient way to propel a boat, but the party of visitors that day - three people lolling on cushions and one fellow poling vigorously - was not bothered by their slow pace. They waved as they floated past.

The Cam River is fed by springs rising from chalk aquifers southeast of Cambridge. The water quality is good, so the river supports fish, including pike, carp and eel. One section of the river is reserved as a practice area for Cambridge’s renowned rowing team.

In all this precise architecture it was pleasant to stumble on what is known locally as the Round Church. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is one of England’s four surviving Norman round churches (built circa 1130 A.D, with the rectangular church being 15th century.) This round church was drastically restored in 1841.

For a one-pound sterling admission, the public may wander freely or participate in a Christian heritage group exhibition and video called ‘Saints and Scholars’.

“Cream teas among the apple trees” was how my English friend had described our lunch destination, a restaurant called The Orchard. The youthful war poet Rupert Brooke frequented The Orchard in his student years, as did Bertrand Russell, Maynard Keynes, Virginia Woolf and E.M. Forster. But it was Brooke who immortalized the farmhouse teashop in his poem, The Old Vicarage, Grantchester, of which the last two lines are: “Stands the Church clock at ten to three? And is there honey still for tea?”

No honey was on the menu that day, but the tomato bisque and sandwich special was delicious. As we lingered over tea, then strolled in the orchard, the place did, indeed, exude the timeless quality of Brooke’s poem.

The poet, a casualty of the First World War, died on a troop ship bound for Gallipoli and achieved fame after his death as the epitome of the innocence of youth. His beloved Orchard is open for light lunches, teas and for a special tradition. During the colleges’ May Balls, bleary-eyed students punt to The Orchard the morning after for an al fresco breakfast.

For me, the big attraction of Cambridge was not its splendid colleges or even its thriving outdoor market. I was drawn into the orbit of what is billed as the oldest bookshop site in Britain, home of the Cambridge University Press, on Trinity Street. You might imagine a musty place of ancient tomes - given that scholars first arrived at this location in 1209 - but this bright, modern, relaxing store, so seductive to bibliophiles, is crammed with the world’s most erudite texts on every subject from paleoethnobotany to the birth of the blues.

It’s a good thing that nobody showed me the University Library that dates from the 13th century and fields a million volumes, including original manuscripts and maps. Most of the colleges were founded during the 15th and 16th centuries, including King’s College in 1441 and Christ’s College in 1505.

One thing about bookstores: they make a traveler thirsty. There are numerous centuries-old pubs dotted in the downtown area, but note this warning for the North American traveler. Most of the British pubs are smoke-filled and without modern ventilation. You can, however, find a cheap meal at The Regal on St. Andrews Street.

Walking tours and punt tours of the town and colleges are available at scheduled times from the tourist info centre at the Guildhall. They can also point you in the direction of the many museums or the 40-acre Botanic Garden, open daily.

For more information about Cambridge England, www.visitcambridge.org

Author: Jan DeGrass