Around Cambridge

Cambridge is an ancient and beautiful university city. The University is the fourth oldest in the world, founded in 1209 by a group of scholars who left Oxford after a dispute. Among its architectural highlights is the famous King's College Chapel, built in Perpendicular Gothic style and completed in 1547. It is regularly open to visitors, and services are still held there daily. Meanwhile, Trinity Great Court, in which Isaac Newton had his rooms, is reputed to be the largest enclosed court in Europe.

Punting is a popular activity amongst visitors. You can hire a punt and glide along the Backs, enjoying views of the old college gardens and buildings on either side. Or, if you're feeling more daring and the weather is good, you can punt upriver through tranquil countryside to the pretty village of Grantchester, where such luminaries as John Maynard Keynes, Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Virginia Woolf used to take tea in the Orchard nearly one hundred years ago.

Alternatively, weather permitting, you could pay a visit to the University's Botanic Garden, a 40-acre landscaped garden with a collection of more than 10,000 species of plants. Cambridge also has an eclectic selection of museums, including the fascinating Whipple Museum of the History of Science, and a good number of comfortable pubs, such as the Eagle, where Watson and Crick first announced their discovery of DNA. (For more pubs, see the Food and drink page.)