Attractions and Places To See around Caxton - Top 20

The "invention" of the prime meridian – more precisely, the scientifically based division of the globe into longitude and latitude, with the prime meridian running at this point as the central reference line – in the second half of the 19th century was an epochal masterpiece in the field of cartography and navigation, particularly significant for seafaring at the time. Even today, in the age of modern GPS navigation based on satellites orbiting the Earth, coordinates based on this principle continue to be used to determine location. A film (in German) from the highly recommended series "Treasures of the World – Heritage of Humanity" explains the UNESCO World Heritage-listed sites in Greenwich and discusses the problem of longitude measurement solved there. This episode can be found in the ARD media library under the following link =>> https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/schaetze-der-welt/maritime-greenwich-grossbritannien-folge-194/swr/Y3JpZDovL3N3ci5kZS83MDM1NjMw

Parking is £2. There is a portaloo and a bin in the carpark. This hike was limited in what you could see, in August the trees and weeds blocked most of the view. For safety note that the pathway takes the narrow road that cars are entering and exiting. There are two crossings over the guided path where the buses are traveling at speed. The first part of the walk by the Ouse was lovely as was the last part on a field where you ton off by the weight limited bridge. I would imagine in winter the path would be a mush pit.

In the winter months guided tours of 45 mins only going every 30 mins (selected times only) and only the ground floor is a accessible.

Easy walk from the National Trust owned Hall and Stable buildings. Great views looking back towards the Hall, and on a good day, back towards Royston

The bus whizzes through the yellow grain landscape like oiled lightning. The intercity bus from Cambridge to St Ivy rolls over a special lane bus track and reaches an impressive speed. Today he transports the four of us to the "Fen Drayton Lakes Nature Reserve", in the lake landscape we hike and do "birdwatching". “Fen Drayton Lakes was originally a flooded sand and gravel pit bordering river floodplains. Today the area is a magnet for a variety of wildlife including otters, dragonflies, ducks, swans and geese. There is something to see (and hear) here all year round.” (https://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/reserves-a-z/fen-drayton-lakes/)

** "Folly (literally "foolishness"), plural follies, is an English term in garden design and architecture for an unusual ornamental building, [...] primarily related to landscape gardens in England. The bizarre conspicuousness of the building is intentional, the provocative uselessness of the system is programmatic. [...]" (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folly_(Garden Art)) Over the extensive pasture slopes we climb to the western ridges of the park at oddly grown, ancient willows. The visual axis of the Lindenallee leads the view over to the picturesque Folly in the northern part. Between the "Serpentine Lakes" the "Japanese Bridge" connects the areas of the park. Behind it we climb up to the artificial ruins of the Folly and enjoy the view for a while before the early dawn drives us down the slope back to the entrance.

"Wimpole Estate" is therefore on the schedule for today, which is cloudy at first and remains cloudy from a weather point of view. The only travel day without sun in the sky leads us first through the premises of Wimpole Hall. (https://artuk.org/visit/venues/national-trust-wimpole-hall-6723) I don't want to dwell on the whole powerful aristocratic fuss here; after all, the British have a much more relaxed relationship with the aristocratic upper class, which has always lovingly enslaved the population. We are not alone in visiting the spacious rooms of the Hall.

"Wimpole Estate" is therefore on the schedule for today, which is cloudy at first and remains cloudy from a weather point of view. The only travel day without sun in the sky leads us first through the premises of Wimpole Hall. (https://artuk.org/visit/venues/national-trust-wimpole-hall-6723)"Wimpole Hall is just south of the center of its park, from which the views extend north-south and east-west cross direction. The northern park retains many of the features bestowed on it by Lancelot Brown, who greatly expanded it in that direction. He advised the second Earl of Hardwicke from the mid-1760s to the mid-1770s. […] To the north of the Ha-ha (No Joke*) lies a series of serpentine lakes, identified by Brown from the late 17th century Lord Radnor's Fishponds. These are traversed by a wooden Chinese bridge […] leading to a grassy slope planted with trees , on the top of which stands the Gothic-style Folly Castle**, built […] in 1768-1772. A short stretch of linden and chestnut avenue [...] frames the view of Folly Castle. The Park or Home Farm is on the edge of the North Park, some 200 yards east of the Walled Garden, and is an unaltered remnant of a late 18th-century model farm designed by Sir John Soane for the third Lord Hardwicke.” (https://www.parksandgardens.org/places/wimpole-hall)