After visiting the church, and admiring parts of the village, we set off to “The Orchard” for lunch. This establishment is a tea garden set in an orchard, planted in 1868. Here we are at the entrance.
“The Orchard” is considered to be historically significant due to its many famous visitors who include: Bertrand Russell, Maynard Keynes, Alan Turing , Virginia Wolfe, E M Forster and of course, Rupert Brooke. It was a most attractive space, with deck chairs set our under the trees which had lots of apples, pears and quinces on them.
Originally it was a boarding house for students, whose request to have tea served under the trees established it as a tea house. The most famous of these tea-taking students was – you guessed it – Rupert Brooke.
After lunch, we walked down through the orchard, and over a stile, to the River Cam which flows through the famous Grantchester meadows. These meadows are considered to form some of the best scenery near Cambridge (they are about a mile from the city of Cambridge).
While we were there, there were canoeists, punters, cyclists and walkers everywhere, as well as many picnicking families enjoying the sun and the views.
Further up the river is an area known as ‘Byron’s Pool’ where Lord Byron is said to have swum. The three of us thought that the view was typical of the kind of idyllic rural landscape that many people still think of as typically English.
And at least one ancient green myth was reflected in a nearby pub, called the ‘Green Man’. This pub is 500 years old, and reputed to be very atmospheric. Its hearth apparently has chalked quotes from such literati as Orwell and Huxley.
Its close proximity to Cambridge has made Grantchester a most popular place with students, and Grantchester is said to have the world's highest concentration of Nobel Prize winners, presumably because of this.
No comments:
Post a Comment