We awoke to what seems likely to be another dull day. It is also our last on this trip. As our train leaves only this afternoon, we have the morning free. We have settled on a visit to Saffron Walden.

Hotel lounge

We handed in our room keys and arranged to leave our suitcases in the hotel until train time. For breakfast today, went to the hotel lounge.

Coffee and croissants
Photo by Tigger

We had our usual coffee and croissants. (Yes, Tigger breaks hers into pieces.)

Off we go!

At the appointed hour, we went to the bus stop and caught a number 7 bus,

Through villages

The bus follows a circuitous route through towns and villages.

We arrive

After about an hour, we arrived at Saffron Walden, The settlement has a long history (possibly going back to the Neolithic Age). The first part of its name comes from the 16th and 17th centuries when it was a centre for the cultivation of the saffron crocus (crocus sativus). As Wikipedia explains, “The stigmas of the flower were used in medicines, as a condiment, in perfume, as an expensive yellow dye, and as an aphrodisiac.” The second part derives from two Anglo-Saxon words, wealh (“foeigner”, i.e. “native Briton”) and denu (“vale” or “valley”), hence “Valley of the (native) Britons”.

As this was a flying visit, we didn’t have time to investigate fully so I will just post a few pictures.

Lunch

We stopped here for lunch. The weather had improved sufficiently for us to sit outside.

Colourful old houses in Gold Street

Then we walked through the backstreets to the High Street and the stop for the number 7 bus at 1:16.

A view from the bus stop

I took a last look down the High Street with the steeple of St Mary’s Church in the background.

Aboard the number 7

The bus came and took us on the hour’s journey back to Cambridge.

Back at the hotel

We have returned to the hotel where we have collected our cases and are relaxing over coffee in the hotel lounge while waiting for for it to be time to cross to the station and board our train.

Once more, and for the last time on this trip, we went down to the hotel cafe bar for supper.

Cambridge Station at night

Afterwards, we stepped outside for a few minutes and I photographed Cambridge railway station, becomingly illuminated. Tomorrow afternoon, we shall depart from here for the last time on this trip and return to London.

Before we leave definitively, however, we have another excursion planned – which I shall recount at the appropriate time.

And so, for the last time, good night, Cambridge, till tomorrow!

It’s another grey day though not raining so far. We started with our usual coffee and croissants breakfast at Caffè Nero before setting off for today’s destination, the historic town of Bury St Edmunds.

Cambridge Station

Tigger has already bought our train tickets online and we will collect them from a machine on the station.

Platform 6

Our train departs from the out-of-way platform 6. Our train’s destination is Ipswich but, fortunately, we are not going that far. Bury is the third stop.

Arriving

We arrive at Bury St Edmunds.

The station

Bury station is of unusual design but is, I think, attractive.

Closed church

We visited St John’s Church on a previous trip but it is now boarded up.

St John’s Street

We walked up this road, St John’s Street.

Caffè Nero

At the top of the hill, in the unlikely sounding Brentgovel Street, we stopped for coffee at Caffè Nero.

A statue on the façade

We had come to Bury for a particular purpose (which I will explain later) but we now looked around the town.

A lump of modern architecture

Bury may be a historic cathedral and market town but it is also a modern town full of sometimes not very prepossessing modern architecture.

Street view

Perhaps if we spent more time here and came to know it better, we might discover some so far unnoticed charms.

The Corn Exchange

There are a few striking buildings such as the Corn Exchange, now a Wethersoon’s pub. If we had had more time, we would no doubt have discovered more.

The War Memorial

Jacobean-style shops

This building in pseudo-“Tudorbethan” style was built in 1910 and is Grade II listed.

Old Burton’s Store

A personal interest, we spotted this old Burton’s store with a foundation stone dated 1933.

Moyse’s Hall Museum

We had come to see an exhibition in Moyse’s Hall Museum. Called Moments, it is an exhibition by modern artists. The space devoted to the artworks was somewhat confined and there were quite a few visitors, so that seeing – and photographing – works was not easy. There follow just three snaps of the exhibition.

Glimpses of the exhibition

As a miscellaneous selection, the exhibition had some sort of interest but I didn’t see anything particularly striking. It gave me the impression of being a collection of “other works” by the artists concerned.

Roof structure, Moyse’s Hall

The architecture of Moyse’s Hall itself was also interesting and would probably repay time spent studying it.

Door

I liked this little Gothic-style doorway as much as most of the exhibited artworks.

Long-case clocks

There was also a small selection of “proper” museum exhibits, including an impressive array of long-case clocks (the photo includes just a few of the clocks on view).

Clock face

As well as instruments for keeping time, clocks have also always been works of art in their own right. Clockmakers are mechanics but also artists.

Pocket watches

There was a large number of those clocks in miniature, pocket watches.

Where we had lunch

As we have spent rather a lot on food lately, we thought we had better economise at lunchtime. We bought a few items from Marks & Spencer and consumed them sitting on the wall round this tree.

Tea and toasted teacakes

As our train is not until 4 pm and we have exhausted the pleasures of Bury, we have come back to Caffè Nero to spend the interim period. Tea and toasted teacakes make a pleasant supplement to lunch!

A last look

As we had done a fair amount of walking, we decided to take a bus back to the railway station.

Bus station

We walked down to the bus station and straightaway found a bus serving the railway station.

On the bus

We were very soon at Bury’s picturesque railway station.

Platform 1 for Cambridge

We went onto platform 1 and sat on a bench to await our train. There was quite a chilly breeze blowing by this time but there was only one waiting room – on the other side of the track!

Aboard the train

The train came at last and rescued us from the cold breeze.

Three stops later we arrived back in Cambridge, glad that our hotel was so near the station. We made tea and will relax in the room until it is time to go down for supper.

This afternoon we are being picked up by a friend in his car. We prepared by buying a picnic lunch at Sainsbury’s. We met at the hotel and set off at 2 pm.

Motorway view

We travelled on the motorway where we saw lots of this and…

Motorway

…a fair amount of this.

Stamford

After a long drive, we reached Stamford. As we spent a short time here, I didn’t have time to identify everything, so I will just show you the pictures, adding names where I know them. (I think you prefer the pictures to my words, anyway! 🙂 )

Modern replacement of the Eleanor Cross

Silver Lane

Public Library

Old houses

Stamford Theatre

Spire of St Mary’s

House of 1849

Houses of the 1840s

Lord Burghley’s Hospital
(Almshouses)

After our rapid tour, we returned to the car to hurry off to our next destination.

Rutland Water

We had come to Rutland Water, a large reservoir, for a ride on the Rutland Belle, a tour boat that sails on it.

The Rutland Belle

There are seats both on the open deck and inside under cover. As it was now beginning to feel a little chilly and threatening rain, we chose to sit inside, so all my photos will have been taken through the windows. The hope was to observe various bird species, especially ospreys.

There were ospreys and some people did see them. Unfortunately, with my less than perfect vision, I was not one of them,

Cormorants

I did see a tree full of cormorants, …

A yacht

…a small yacht, …

Flying geese
Photo by Tigger

…flying geese, …

Black-backed gull

…a black-backed gull and…

A fly on the window

…a fly on the window!

Then came the long drive back,

Speeding along

Happily, the roads were far less crowded than earlier and we were able to make good time. (Yes, I’m sitting at the back.)

In the hotel

We arrived finally at our hotel and ordered supper in the hotel bar-restaurant, bringing the day to a pleasant conclusion.

Good night, Cambridge, see you again tomorrow!

We awoke to cloudy skies, in contrast to yesterday’s warm and sunny conditions. We have activities planned for this afternoon but the morning was free, so we did not need to hurry. We made tea, chatted, showered and dawdled – we are on holiday, after all!.

Corridor

We set off at about 9 am, negotiating seemingly endless corridors and the lift that needs the electronic room key to function.

It’s raining

As we stepped into the street we found it was raining.

Caffè Nero

We went for breakfast to the nearby Caffé Nero which was, unsurprisingly, rather busy.

Coffee and croissants

We ordered our usual coffee and croissants.

The sun breaks through

While we were sitting in Nero, the sun broke through for a moment but I don’t think it will last.

Wet streets

I was right: the sunshine did not last. It quickly disappeared leaving us with grey skies and wet streets. We set off walking to the Grand Arcade.

Entering Grand Arcade

We had come, not for the shops, but for the public library.

Entering the library

The library, opened in 1975, is actually within the arcade. Tigger wanted to check some items of local architecture.

Books on architecture

From here we went to visit another famous local landmark.

Lloyd’s Bank

It is this splendid building, originally Foster’s Bank and today a branch of Lloyd’s Bank. It was designed by the famous architect Alfred Waterhouse and built in 1890-3.

Interior

Banks don’t like you taking photos of the interior for reasons that are easy to understand but I did sneak this view.

Ceiling
Photo by Tigger

On asking, we were given permission to photograph the ceiling though there was so much else that we would have wished to capture.

Side door

This is s side door of the building.

Entrance, Christ’s College

Nearby was the richly gilded and painted entrance to Christ’s College.

From here we took the long walk back to the hotel where we made tea and rested in advance of this afternoon’s outing. More about that later.