There is nothing better than a picturesque English place to explore, and this village should be marked as your next place to visit due to its beauty and peculiar yet fun traditions.
Grantchestervillage is located in Cambridgeshire, England and is situated right next to the River Cam, which has made the area known for its scenic riverside views.
It is often depicted in popular media due to its famous riverside walks that take place along the Grantchester Meadows, which have been featured in the 1969 song of the same name by Pink Floyd as well as poems by the famous poets Rupert Brooke and Sylvia Plath.
The village has been named one of the “most romantic getaways” in the UK by CN Traveler due to its grassy banks perfect for a picnic, thatched-roofed cottages and winding streets.
The Times also called Grantchester one of the “prettiest” villages in the whole of the UK due to its “dreamlike” beauty where visitors are “not an idle tourist so much as an aesthete pilgrim”.
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However, Grantchester is also known for its annual Boxing Day tradition of barrel racing, in which the local pubs compete to see who can roll a barrel through the village the fastest down Coton Road.
The race first began between the pubs in the 1960s but was cancelled after one of the organiser’s family members was accused of cheating, which led to a complete shutdown of the event until it was revived in 2004.
The fun event draws huge crowds to cheer for the participants while also raising money for charity. Nowadays there are also more race categories such as the ladies’ race, the ‘Family and Friends’ race as well as the ‘First-timers’ race.
After the race is done, celebrations continue to take place. On the Gracnester website, they state: “All are welcome to enjoy an hour of eccentric, charity-funding mayhem followed by liquid refreshment in one of the local pubs.”
Grantchesteras as a settlement is known to have existed since Roman times, and the village is worth exploring for anyone interested in history. One of the oldest spots in the village is the Grantchester Church and graveyard, which is known to have many scholars buried in its grounds.
Despite only having a population of less than 600 people, GrantchesterVillage is believed to have the world’s highest concentration of Nobel Prize winners. This may be due to how near the quiet village is to the University of Cambridge, as the village is only a 30-minute walk from the Cambridge city centre.
Those wishing to visit Grantchestershould also stop at The Orchard, a tearoom and garden which opened in the late 1890s.
This renowned food spot is famous for being a place for famous academics to visit but is also known for its beauty as it is surrounded by apple trees. If you wish to be served traditional English afternoon tea underneath an orchard as well as see stunning views of Grantchester Meadows, then this tearoom is the perfect place to visit.
Grantchester is also a terrific place for anyone who likes a drink, as the village is home to the Gin Laboratory, in which visitors can not only taste gin but have fun blending their own.
On social media, people have highly recommended Grantchesteras a place to visit. One person wrote: “I visited last year as it was so much fun!”
Someone else, who appeared to visit on Boxing Day, wrote: “Grantchester is a barrel of laughs (get it?). Visited during the races and it was chaotic but fantastic!”
