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£16.50 Adults |
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Only gentle walking |
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Availability: Weekdays all year |
Ely & The Fens
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Today we begin in Newmarket, the capital of horseracing in England, enjoy a coach tour across the Cambridgeshire Fens and a guided tour of Ely Cathedral, possibly the most beautiful of all the English cathedrals. |
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This area, once covered in water, was pumped dry into the landscape you'll see on this day |
Meet the guide in Newmarket at 10-30am to buy morning coffee. If possible come earlier at 9-30am to watch the racehorses being exercised on the town gallops. If not we’ll still take you by coach up the sweeping hill of the gallops and show you how the ‘Sport of Kings’ forms the lifeblood of this Suffolk town before heading out to discover the uncluttered landscape of the Cambridgeshire Fens.
Once wild and wet, the Fens, formed by nature and shaped by people over 6000 years, were home to all sorts of wildlife including beavers. During an entertaining drive to Ely we hear about the ancient art of Fen skating and the two churches of bickering Swaffham Prior. We hear how geese were walked to London for the Michaelmas fairs and the slippery fen eels that were once so bountiful were speared for the table.
Beneath huge skies the cathedral at Ely, built on an island in the flat landscape of the marshes, rises up like a great ship. We arrive in time for lunch in one of the smallest of the English cathedral cities.
Mediaeval women had few choices - mostly to marry or enter the religious life. Etheldreda, the Saxon Princess and remarkable founder of Ely Cathedral, was one of the few to do both! Enjoy a spellbinding tour of one of England’s most beautiful sacred spaces with our top notch guide. To stand inside the Galilee porch of Ely Cathedral and gaze along the nave fills the soul with a spine tingling mixture of pride and joy and that’s even before you have raised your eyes to marvel at the shimmering colours of the ceilings and the 14th century octagonal lantern tower.
The vast mediaeval Lady Chapel is the biggest in England; it's filled with eerily empty niches that once held statues of saints and martyrs. They were hacked out unceremoniously by iconoclasts during the English Civil War. After all, here lived Oliver Cromwell. There is an excellent cathedral shop and Refectory where you can buy tea before leaving for home at 4-45pm.
This itinerary is carefully planned to keep the walking down to a minimum. Unusually, coach parking is free in Ely. The tour is available Monday to Saturday all year.
Adults: £16.50 Seniors: £15.50
Price valid until 31st March 2013
Coach Mileage: 20
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