Grantchester
Grantchester Meadows
Grantchester village lies on the River Cam or Granta in South Cambridgeshire, and is about two miles south of Cambridge.
The village boasts old thatched cottages pretty flower filled gardens and a lovely teashop called the orchard, the village can be reached by an idyllic walk along a footpath or ideally, by the river on a punt from Cambridge, this path was nicknamed the Grantchester grind after a Tom Sharpe novel.
Students and tourists make the journey to picnic in the meadows or visit the teashop, this was made famous when in 1897 a group of students persuaded the owner of orchard house to serve them tea in the apple orchard, this became a regular practice and the teashop still flourishes.
Lodgers at the teashop include Rupert Brooke the Edwardian poet who later moved next door to the old vicarage. This became the title of his homesick induced poem The Old vicarage Grantchester written in 1912 while in Berlin. The house is currently the home of the Cambridge scientist Mary Archer and her husband, Jeffrey Archer.
Grantchester is said to have the world's highest concentration of Nobel Prize winners, most of these probably being current or retired academics from the nearby University of Cambridge.
Grantchester was the haunt of the famous Bloomsbury group who came here to relax and discuss their work. Lord Byron was said to swim in a pool named after him near the Bourn brook now a nature reserve.
Activities in Grantchester
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