Two of my best chums are teachers and during the holidays I book a day's holiday and we have a little tripette. Usually it is somewhere that will provide a nice lunch and have some historic buildings which we can saunter around and then somewhere else we can have a nice tea. I have just returend from Wisbech which is in north Cambridge deep in the fens. Ann and I had both seen the film Dean Spanley which was largely filmed there and decided it would be an interesting place for a day out.
It certainly is a handsome town with a wealth of Georgian housing as you can see from the pictures. But, my, it is in need of some tlc. It was obviously very wealthy in the 18th and 19th centuries when the port was thriving and it had two railway stations and a tramway. Indeed the Rev Audrey was inspired to write the Thomas the Tank engine books from the town. But now the railway and tramway are gone and the port is hardly vital. It has a marina but it doesn't seem to be bringing in much cash. It's full of pound shops and charity shops and virtually no chain stores or restaraunt. The roads to it are rubbish and it's not near any major conurbation. Many of the buildings are looking a bit sorry for themselves and I don't know how a town like that can recover. Mind you I should have known what to expect as a colleague called it Wisbekistan and a friend describe it as an armit.
That said we had a very nice day out. Peckover house and Octavia Hill's birthplace are very interesting and it is worth a visit in the unlikely event that you are ever in that partof the fens
1 comment:
It certainly looks like somewhere I'd go to visit... It's such a good setting for an Austen classic.. although I'm not sure which one! And speaking of literary things, that blog post contained a few good scrabble words... hmmm... *alice makes a note*... :o) xxxxxxx
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