Despite the fact that there aren't so many
chesters in the East of England, it was quite a coincidence that we ended up in Godmanchester, Cambridgeshire - as our last two
chesters were also in the East of England -
Great Chesterford in Essex and
Brancaster in Norfolk. Going to Godmanchester, really means going to Huntingdon, so were found ourselves on the Friday rush-hour commuter train to Peterborough, jumping out at Huntingdon and launching into a cold and wet autumnal evening.
Despite last year's flooding and our adventures wading through water in places like
Irchester, we haven't had a lot of rain on our
chester walks. Huntingdon made an interesting departure from this streak of luck. We got soaked to the bone on arrival, as we walked from the station to the BnB, then from the BnB to dinner and back again. After such a gorgeous summer, it was a sure sign that winter is on its way!
Lodgings and victuals
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| Braywood House |
A warm welcome at the BnB certainly made up for the inclement weather and we were really happy to find ourselves at
Braywood House on St Peter's Road in the north of the town. Braywood House is a beautiful building, dating back to 1828, it was built as the home of the Governor of Huntingdon. The building used to house the county gaol and 'house of correction' and the current owners have made an effort to retain the correctional theme in the names of the bedrooms.
We had a rather extravagant, but very tasty, meal at
The Old Bridge Hotel, an 18th century townhouse by the River Ouse. A nice bottle of wine helped us brave the elements once more, as we walked back across town to Braywood House.
BAM (Best Aussie Mate) seems to be somewhat of magnet for her fellow Australians and we had an interesting conversation around the breakfast table, the following morning, with a couple of Aussie Mormons from Adelaide, who were in England visiting relatives and Mormon places of interest!
Braywood House to Godmanchester (1.3 miles/2.1 kilometres)
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| Huntingdon High Street |
Huntingdon is a funny kind of place. We got a real sense that it has seen better days and somehow hasn't quite achieved its full potential. It's, perhaps, most famous as the birthplace of Oliver Cromwell, who was born in a house on the High Street in 1599. His former school now hosts
The Cromwell Museum.
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| Flagstone commemorating Cromwell |
I've always found Cromwell fascinating - occasionally revered by
the left in Britain, as a true revolutionary who overthrew the monarchy and established a British Republic - he has a really bad reputation in Ireland, having engineered the massacre of many native Irish people in towns like Drogheda and Wexford. I've written about his
attempt to ethnically cleanse Ireland in my sister blog,
Learning about the World.
It was very weird being in his birthplace and I wondered how much Huntingdon's connection with Cromwell was responsible for the eclipse of that town's prosperity in favour of places like Cambridge and Peterborough. Historically, Huntingdonshire was its own county within England - now it's part of Cambridgeshire, which seems like a kind of punishment for producing England's only dictator!
Godmanchester to Brampton Mill (1.7 miles/2.8 kilometres)
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| Godmanchester |
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| Boathouse in Godmanchester |
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| Bridge over the River Ouse |
Crossing the pedestrian bridge to Godmanchester and everything changed - suddenly we were no longer in the town, but in a rather pleasant little village with quirky buildings, a boat haven and pretty little riverside park. For the rest of our walk, we were following the Ouse Valley Way - a 150-mile footpath that runs from the source of the River Ouse in Northamptonshire, to the Wash at King's Lynn - linking up with the Norfolk coastal path that we walked along in our Brancaster walk.
There are several rivers in England named
Ouse - probably related to the Celtic word for 'slow flowing river' and possibly related to the modern English verb
'to ooze'? The one we walked along is called 'Great Ouse' to distinguish it from all the lesser ones, in other parts of the country. One of the Ouse's tributaries is the
River Cam - the river we saw on our last Chester walk, in Great Chesterford and the one which gives
Cambridge its name. Somehow our walking becomes an interconnecting tapestry of rivers, ancient paths and English history!
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| The largest meadow in England |
From Godmanchester we crossed
Portholme - the largest meadow in England and site of the former Roman settlement of
Durovigitum a major crossroads on Ermine Street and the
Via Devana route between Colchester and Chester. It's a beautiful open space, with a slightly ancient feeling, despite being hemmed in by the modern trappings of road and rail.
Brampton Mill to Buckden Marina (2.2 miles/3.5 kilometres)
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| Sign post near Brampton Mill |
Due to diversions on the foot path, we somehow missed
Brampton Mill - although it looks like a lovely spot for lunch or a quiet pint. As we settled into the Ouse Valley way, our conversation turned to the relationship between humans and dogs. This is something I
blogged about recently in
Learning about the World and myself and BAM found ourselves questioning the morals of the human/dog relationship and the way we treat animals in general, not to mention plants and our environment.
By coincidence, I found out later that Brampton Mill is not that far from Huntingdon Life Sciences - an animal research laboratory that has attracted a lot of attention and protests from animal rights activists, due to their alleged mistreatment of animals. In 1997, BUAV - the
British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection secretly recorded a documentary in the Huntingdon Life Sciences laboratory called
It's a Dog's Life, which showed cruelty against dogs and this was broadcast on the popular British TV station,
Channel Four.
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| Blackberries |
Subsequent intimidation campaigns directed at laboratory staff and suppliers, has resulted in prison sentences for animal rights activists belonging to SHAC - the
Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty animal rights group. I believe that animals should be treated with dignity and fairness but I'm not convinced that violence is the answer to the animal rights question - perhaps there a wider need for a cultural shift in terms of how we view animals and how we treat them. Animal research laboratories are an obvious target for animal rights groups, but what about the everyday cruelty that animals, in particular dogs, experience from incompetent and neglectful owners? Surely that merits some debate?
Buckden Marina to Little Paxton (3.9 miles/6.4 kilometres)
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| Wooden lodge at Buckden Marina |
Buckden Marina is a very peaceful place and we were fascinated by the wooden lodges that surround the marina, making us feel as though we'd suddenly arrived in the wilds of Canada! Whilst it seems like a really relaxing place to have a second home - the price tag of £160,000 for the most basic lodge, probably pushes it out of our 'casual spending' budgets! Still, if we win the National Lottery . .
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| Path through Paxton Nature reserve |
Apart from the distant buildings of Offord Cluny, there isn't much sign of civilisation in this remote corner of Huntingdonshire and the rest of our walk to Little Paxton was a dreamy, wandering path along the river and through the
Paxton Pits Nature Reserve. Originally a quarry for extracting gravel, Paxton Pits is now a wonderful area of lakes and woodland, teeming with all kinds of wildlife. Its proximity to the village of Little Paxton meant that we soon started seeing dogwalkers and afternoon-strolling families.
Little Paxton to St Neot's railway station (2.5 miles/4.1 kilometres)
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| View of Paines Mill Foyer, St Neot's |
From Little Paxton we crossed the River Ouse and followed a path along the Lammas meadow to the centre of St Neot's. Named after a Cornish monk, St Neot's is the very definition of 'commuter town'. I found it hard to feel any connection to the place, although the view of the
Paines Mill Foyer from the meadow was quite picturesque.
After a quick meal at
The Weeping Ash on New Street, we made our way past housing developments to the railway station and our train back to London.
Access for wheelchair users:
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| Narrow footbridge over the River Ouse |
Unfortunately, as the Ouse Valley way follows a very narrow riverside path, it wouldn't be at all suitable for wheelchair users. I would recommend some walking around Huntingdon and Godmanchester as far as Portholme which, being a meadow, is not accessible. I would also recommend a circular walk Paxton Pits Nature Reserve, as this is accessible and a really lovely place to spend a morning or afternoon.
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