My favourite place in the whole of England is definitely Cambridge…there is no hesitation at all…I’m a Cambridge girl through and through. Each September, Cambridge holds an Open Cambridge Weekend where a number of the colleges and other properties, open their doors which are not otherwise accessible to the general public for a little nosey…and well I love a good snooping session.
I’ve always missed getting the pre-booked tickets for a number of the buildings in the previous Open Cambridge Weekends so I had my fingers ready and waiting for the tickets to be released as I really wanted to see inside Queens’ College Old Library and actually do a walking tour around Cambridge (which are free on the Open Cambridge Weekend).
My Saturday started off quite normally…just watching Robson Green acting in his new tv show…I’ve actually seen him before and there’s a reason why the fish are so large on his fishing show…he’s so short! But I totally digress…here’s a pic of them filming.
I managed to nab a ticket to the first session around Queens’ College Old Library and it really felt like I was walking into Hogwarts.
Our guide talked about the history of the library which dates back to 1448…
…which included some of the oldest stained glass windows in England…
…and then gave us a history on book making; they don’t make books like they used too.
^^I seriously need to work at putting my feet together when taking photos.
My favourite photo from my little snooping session inside the Queens’ College Old Library!
The grounds at Queens’ College are pretty fantastic too with lots of little nooks and crannies to discover…
…plus the opportunity to take a little shoevenir!
^^Feet together this time!
After taking a million and one photos inside the library; I joined up for my 1.5 hour Historic Cambridge Walking Tour. Now the guide was blooming fantastic and you can join their regular tours by booking via the tourist office in Cambridge.
I’m so used to visiting Cambridge on a regular basis (the joys of living a 30 minute drive away), that I take a lot of the history for granted…I know a bit about Cambridge however it was interesting to learn some more quirky stories – like this is the oldest church not just in Cambridge but also Cambridgeshire…
…and those round holes at the top are to let the owls pop into the church to eat the mice that would be eating the prayer books; vintage pest control at it’s best!
We wandered past a few churches on our walking tour…
…learnt about the history of a cute little pub which included the story of why the window (right hand photo) is kept open; apparently a little girl died inside the pub many many moons ago due to a fire – so the window has always been kept open since to allow her spirit to leave whenever she fancies…it’s even kept wide open during the winter months…
…past college buildings…
…more college buildings…
…and another one…
…past drunk little buildings that can’t stand up straight…
It felt so strange at times to see things on buildings that I hadn’t ever noticed before and walked past a million times…look at the little faces!
I didn’t feel like dragging G around on a history trip so I met up with him later to explore the Nuclear Bunker at the Council Offices – it was a tad boring; so here is a pretty photo of Cambridge instead.
And of course you can’t leave Cambridge without a photo of someone going punting…it’s compulsory!
The Open Cambridge Weekend normally takes place the weekend prior to the Open House London Weekend – if you’re looking at doing something a little bit different then I highly recommend doing some snooping in Cambridge. A lot of the entry is via pre-booked tickets (which are free) so make sure you check out their website.
If want to showcase your snooping skills to the world then you should definitely look into visiting the other cities around the world that participate in the Open House Worldwide Weekends…snooping just got goooood!
xx
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