Shingay cum Wendy and Grantchester

I never know what to expect when Phil asks me to visit a place. In the past I've visited rocks in the ground (temple of Mithras) in London, I've got lost in Swansea, I've trekked up and down a hill looking for Caitlin Thomas' grave when it was actually on the back of Dylan Thomas' gravestone, I've been rescued by a coastguard in Jamaica and ben to an outdoor museum in Berlin...so when he asked to visit Grantchester becuase of Rupert Brooke, I couldn't wait.

We should have realised there was a clue before we visited, and that was the fact it was really hard to find anything about it on the world wide wide. My favourite bit was the text on the Orhcard tea gardens website stating "Deckchairs should always be correctly positioned before sitting down. If in doubt ask. Never reposition the chair whilst seated. Never stand up or fool around on the deckchairs -they can bite! " What type of place were we going to with biting deck chairs!

So, off we went to Grantchester, close to the centre of Cambridge. We first visited the Brooke Museum to the left of the car park (it stated this multiple time). I think museum might be an over statement for a long shed but it had some lovely pictures of Rupert and the Grantchester group - Rupert Brooke (a poet), Russell and Wittgenstein (philosophers), Forster and Virginia Woolf (novelists), Keynes (an economist), and Augustus John (an artist).

After the museum, it was time for tea and cake. We walked through the Orchard tea gardens, noting the signs that you should not adjust the deckchairs while seated. Who would do that? How? We tested the deck chairs in -4 degrees, then walked through grantchester trying to find the Old Vicarage. We found the church with memorial, a very english church with wooden door. You can imagine what it smells like. Then we walked to the Red Lion, a gorgeous thatched pub, however it has been taken over by a chain so off we went to the Rupert Brooke instead to warm up while googling where the old vicarage is.

I consider myself to be an ok googler, but oh my gosh there is limited information on Grantchester and the location of the Old Vicarage...later we found out there is a reason for this. It's right next door to the tea gardens where our journey started, just the other way! So, we eventually found it, home to Jeffrey and Mary Archer, with Victorian post box, unique letter box and Rupert Brooke statue in the grounds (Mary is a Rupert fan and wrote a book that we followed).

We continued to the Old Mill, over the frozen river and then back to the car for a country drive back. Something I love about Britain, the very strange twon names. Today's - Shingay cum Wendy. I kid you not, it was went Shingay and Wendy merged but why oh why would you put that word in the middle to join the words?