Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire is a historic county in the East Anglia region of England, part of the United Kingdom.

Cities and towns

Cities
  • 🌍 Cambridge the county seat is a university city with must-see historic colleges.
  • 🌍 Ely is a small cathedral city perched on what was once an island in the Fens.
  • 🌍 Peterborough is industrial yet has a well-preserved centre and cathedral.

Towns

Villages

Understand

For centuries much of the north east of the region was inaccessible marshland, until a programme of drainage assisted by Dutch engineers transformed the Fens into the country's most fertile farmland, leaving the landscape criss-crossed by canals and dotted with windmills.

The major population centres today remain concentrated in the south and west of Cambridgeshire, with the north and east of the region remains a bleak, empty landscape.

Talk

Cambridgeshire residents speak in the standard form of English common across South East England, and there should be little difficulty for English speakers in understanding them. Contrary to popular belief, most locals do not speak in the distinctive upper-class accents common amongst Cambridge University students.

Get in

By car

Cambridge, Peterborough, Huntingdon and Wisbech are located on some of the UK's major routes. There are direct road connections between Cambridgeshire and major destinations across the country, such as London, Doncaster, Hull, Ipswich, Northampton, Norwich, Stansted Airport and Stevenage.

Major routes into the county include:

By train

Cambridge is located on several train routes, with direct connections from destinations throughout the UK.

From London King's Cross and London St Pancras

From London Liverpool Street and London Stansted Airport

From Birmingham and Leicester
  • CrossCountry stopping services from Birmingham New Street, Leicester, Melton Mowbray and Stamford - into Peterborough, March, Ely and Cambridge, then London Stansted Airport.

From Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds

From destinations in Norfolk

From the North East and Scotland

From Nottingham and Lincoln

By plane

There are no international airports in Cambridgeshire, but several with direct road and rail connections into the county:

By bus

Major bus routes into Cambridgeshire include:

Get around

The region is well linked by rural bus services.

By dial-a-ride

Ting is a demand-responsive bus service. Ting covers the West Huntingdonshire area including St Neots, Cambourne, Sawtry and surrounding villages. To book a journey, Vectare DRT app is used. The ride can also be called from the booking line on +44 115 777 3187.

See

The region's chief attraction is the splendid architecture and attractive riverfront of the historic city of Cambridge. Further afield, attractions include:

  • Imperial War Museum Duxford
  • Wicken Fen south of Ely
  • Wimpole Hall and Home Farm near Royston.

Do
  • Punting on the River Cam in Cambridge

Eat

Cambridgeshire isn't known for its food specialities. Traditional English roasts are served in attractive country pubs throughout the region. Cambridge offers the widest range of restaurants to choose from, whilst Peterborough is the place to head for Italian.

Drink

The regions small towns and villages offer a particularly fine range of country pubs, many of which serve a good range of real ales. Most of the "local" beer served in the region comes from the Charles Wells brewery in Bedfordshire and Greene King brewery in Suffolk - you will see these names on pub signs everywhere in the region.

Stay safe

Cambridgeshire is a quiet and fairly prosperous region presenting relatively few hazards to the traveller. See the England section for more general safety tips.

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