Nature · Cambridge Castle Mound

Grantchester Meadows

A mile and a half south of Cambridge city centre, the River Cam widens and slows through a flood meadow of wildflowers, weeping willows and grazing cows — and the only way to arrive properly is by punting or on foot along the riverbank. Grantchester Meadows is the pastoral escape that generations of Cambridge students have been disappearing to for over a century.

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The walk and the river

The most rewarding route follows the Cam towpath south from the Mill Pond behind The Mill pub on Mill Lane — a flat, easy 30-to-40-minute walk through open meadow with the river always in view. In spring and summer the banks are thick with cow parsley, meadow buttercups and the occasional kingfisher.

Alternatively, hire a punt from Scudamore's at Granta Place and pole yourself down to Grantchester — it takes about an hour each way and requires no experience, just a willingness to get slightly wet. The meadows look entirely different from water level, with willow branches trailing the surface and college boathouses slipping past.

Grantchester village and the Orchard Tea Garden

The village of Grantchester itself is small and pretty, with a 14th-century church and a churchyard famously associated with the poet Rupert Brooke. The unmissable stop is the Orchard Tea Garden on Mill Way, where deckchairs have been set out under apple trees since 1897 — order a pot of tea and a scone and you will not want to leave.

Brooke, Bertrand Russell, Virginia Woolf and E.M. Forster all took tea here. The orchard is now a listed heritage site and the tearoom is open daily through spring and summer.

Practical notes

The meadows are free to walk and always open. Go on a weekday in late spring for the best wildflower display and the fewest crowds. Summer weekends bring half of Cambridge out here, which is fun but busy.

Wear waterproof shoes after rain — the meadow path gets muddy. There is no car park at the meadows themselves; the walk or punt from Cambridge is the intended approach.

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