The Boatyard

After dropping Pete at his survey site in Chatteris, Ben and I drove on to Ely. In early June, when we'd travelled down to Cambridge on the train for his first exam, we'd passed through the city and decided we must come back to explore. The last time we'd visited as a family Ben was only four!

As the weather was fine we decided not to go into the cathedral (which was heaving with people), but instead followed the Ely Eel Trail, which took us all round the historic parts of the city. The trail includes five pieces of public art  by Elizabeth Jane Grosse, illustrating the life cycle of the eel, and the culture surrounding eel fishing.

I'd forgotten what a lovely city Ely is, and hadn't previously realised that it has the most complete collection of monastic buildings still standing in Western Europe. Of course we spent some time admiring the architectural magnificence of the cathedral, and in particular the Octagon Tower which is crowned by the Lantern Tower built from wood, lead and glass. It was constructed in the 1320s in the wake of the collapse of the Norman tower, and is a masterpiece of medieval engineering (see extra photo). I decided that I will return in the autumn to climb it and see the amazing view of the surrounding fens.


Our other favourite area was the river side, where we came across this boatyard, which appeared to belong in an earlier century, until you spot the plastic kayak, chairs and hose! I was particularly taken by the vintage Castrol sign. We had a decadent cream tea in Peacock's cafe (highly recommended) and then browsed the art in the Babylon Gallery. All in all an excellent afternoon out, and so nice to spend time with my youngest, who appreciated the city a lot more this time round!