10 Beautiful Towns and Villages in Cambridgeshire

St Ives is a pretty little market town on the River Great Ouse, between Huntingdon and Ely. Not to be confused with the town of the same name in Cornwall, Cambridgeshire’s own was called Slepe – in 1001 or 1002 AD, it changed its name to reflect the discovery of the body of St Ivo, the Cornish bishop and hermit, in the village.

One of the town’s more unusual landmarks is a 15th-century bridge that is only one of 4 in Britain to incorporate a chapel. It’s dedicated to St Leger, the patron saint of millers. Enjoy shopping in the market and socializing at the town’s riverside pubs. In summer, the water attracts stand-up paddleboarders and those hopping aboard boats for trips up to Hemingford Gray Lock.

Buckden is a charming village in Cambridgeshire that’s centered on Buckden Towers, formerly Buckden Palace. This fortified house was once the home of the Bishops of Lincoln, despite its distant location – one was even known as the “Bishop of Buckden who never saw Lincoln”. Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of King Henry VIII, also lived here for a time after he banished her from the court.

Today, this settlement is a far cry from the bustling coaching stop it once was, a peaceful backwater despite its proximity to the A1. Buckden Towers now hosts religious retreats and conferences. You can find several charming old houses and cottages in the center of the village as well as several places to eat or sleep.

Thorney is a pretty village in Cambridgeshire that has retained much of its medieval charms. The land on which this village near Peterborough is situated started life as an island surrounded by fenland. Originally, it was the site for a monastery. In the 16^th century under the ownership of the Earl of Bedford, the process of draining the surrounding land for agriculture commenced.

Thorney Heritage Museum is an interesting diversion for visitors to the village. Walloons from northern France settled in the 17^th century, bringing their expertise and culture. While most of the housing comprises 19^th-century terraces there are also some beautiful buildings such as Bedford Hall. Check out the 18^th-century windmill while you’re there.

Fulbourn is a small town near the Gog Magog Hills that’s been settled since Neolithic times and takes its name from a nearby stream. A piece of artwork in granite erected in 2012, called the Fulbourn Life Wall, commemorates this and other aspects of the village’s long history.

The village is also worth checking out for its 19th-century smock mill, which opens about once a month for visitors. But don’t come to Fulbourn expecting Scottish grub – although there’s a street called the Haggis Gap, it’s named after a hole in a hedge through which a gentleman named Haggis used to squeeze.

The Shelfords, as they are commonly referred to, comprise the 2 villages of Great and Little Shelford in Cambridgeshire. Great Shelford is the larger of the 2, but from both several pleasant walks lead to the surrounding countryside.

Great Shelford has hosted the Shelford Feast since medieval times. Traditionally it was a 3-day festival held in honor of St Mary the Virgin. Revived in the 1990s, these days it’s an annual event which features live music and stand-up comedy acts, as well as plenty of good food and drink. The proceeds go to charitable causes and there’s a great sense of community spirit. If they were still alive now, Barack Obama’s ancestors, Puritans who sailed to Massachusetts in the 1620s, might be sorry they left.

Linton is home to Chilford Hall, one of England’s oldest vineyards, which tends approximately 17,000 vines on an 18-acre site. It hosts regular tastings for visitors to sample the wine from 9 varieties of grape produced on the fertile soils overlying the local chalk. If beer is more your thing, head down to the Dog and Duck pub, recognizable from its traditional thatched roof.

Kids will love to pay a visit to Linton Zoo. The zoo has a strong conservation focus and a commitment to breeding. Keeper experiences for both children and adults help to educate as well as entertain. Among the wildlife here are big cats such as lions and snow leopards, plus other species such as zebras, wallabies and lemurs.

Fen Ditton is a village on the east bank of the River Cam to the northeast of Cambridge whose name has Bronze Age origins. Fleam Dyke runs through the village – though the earliest written records spell it Ditton or “Ditch Town”. In today’s village, there are several thatched cottages as well as buildings which display pargeting, a style of wall plasterwork into which molds are pressed to leave decorative patterns.

The Plow pub in the village provides one of the best vantage points to watch boat races known as The Bumps. It’s a tradition that’s been enjoyed for over a century. The River Cam is too narrow for boats to race side by side, so they line up behind one another; if one is touched by another, it’s forced to pull over to let it pass.

Houghton and Wyton, though technically 2 separate settlements in Cambridgeshire, are so close together they’re usually referred to as one place. They jointly run an annual music festival, for instance. These twin villages boast an assortment of farmworkers’ cottages and historic thatched properties in verdant surroundings.

Wyton has been home to an RAF base since World War One. Houghton is best known for something a little older: an 18^th-century watermill run by the National Trust. Take a walk beside the Great Ouse or hike a couple of miles to Godmanchester Nature Reserve to fully appreciate the rural setting.

Hemingford Abbots, on the River Great Ouse, is full to bursting with half-timbered buildings and thatched cottages. But this quaint little place has a much longer history – flints and a sarcophagus were discovered here that date back to Roman times.

Come to the village in summer when the village church of St Margaret of Antioch holds a popular flower festival. It’s also worth paying a visit to Hemingford Gray Manor. Built in the 1130s, it lays claim to being one of the oldest continually inhabited homes in the country. Visits to the house and its gorgeous gardens are by appointment only.

Whittlesford is an attractive village situated south of Cambridge. It was first granted a market by Royal Charter in 1206 though there’s no longer sufficient demand to run it. Above the doorway of its church, eagle-eyed visitors will spot what’s known as a Sheela-na-gig. In Whittlesford’s case, it takes the form of shockingly explicit ancient depictions of a naked woman and man, thought to be a warning against the sin of lust.

The village hit the headlines in 2004 when curious crop markings akin to the white horses of Wiltshire appeared in a field nearby. There was some dispute whether the figure was carved by people into the underlying chalk or instead was the result of the sugar beet crop marking the soil.