CharlotteK

I'm spending a week in late October in East Anglia/Cambridgeshire to see LOTS of cathedrals (they got 'em). I am wondering if anyone has any preferences for a base in the area. I'd rather stay in one place than move around each night. I plan to get around by bus or train. I'm thinking Ely or Peterborough, although I have thought of staying a couple of nights in Cambridge and then moving on from there. I plan to see Ely, Peterborough, Norwich and probably shoot up to Lincoln one day.

I'm interested not only in general preference for a base but also if you stayed in a hotel or B&B you really liked in any of these places, or if you found the food to be far better one place over another. I am not interested in staying in a country hotel that you need a car to reach.

Heimdall

For a start, Peterborough isn't in East Anglia. Cambridge would probably be the most central location for a base to see what you list. Don't overlook Bury St Edmunds, which also has a cathedral and the ruins of an old abbey, where barons met to draft the document that became the Magna Carta. Next year will be the 800th anniversary of that occasion: http://magnacarta800th.com/events/st-edmundsbury/

CharlotteK

Thanks, Heimdall. Neither is Lincoln, but I really didn't feel like typing "East Anglia/Cambridgeshire/Lincoln" every time I mentioned it. I do hope to get to Bury St. Edmunds, if time allows.

Heimdall

Fair enough! My point was really that Peterborough is on the fringe of the territory you plan to cover, while Cambridge has good rail and road connections to all the places you plan to visit. I suppose Peterborough would be more or less midway between Cambridge and Lincoln, but IMO Cambridge has so many things to see that it would be a better base.

I live between Bury St Edmunds and Cambridge, and find it very easy to get to both places on the A14, and also to Ely. I use to do a regular run past Peterborough and Lincoln on the A1(M) when my daughter was at university in Sheffield, and it's a good, albeit busy, route.

hetismij2

We stayed just outside Cambridge, in Milton at the Jolly Brewers http://jollybrewersmilton.co.uk/.

I can highly recommended it as a place to stay. You can read more in my trip report. Click on my name to find it.

anicecupoftea

Don't stay in Peterborough. Apart from the cathedral and the ease of access to train routes, it has no redeeming features and not somewhere I'd want to venture out after dark. Ely is nice enough, but only the size of a small market town. I'd second Cambridge as the best base.

anicecupoftea

BTW, Norwich has 2 cathedrals, so do we win?

Heimdall

Norwich is a beautiful city, and well worth adding to the OP's itinerary. Then there are the wool churches in villages like Lavenham and Long Melford in Suffolk. So many wonderful places in East Anglia usually overlooked by tourists, but maybe that's a good thing. ;-)

semiramis

I like Ely but I confess I am thoroughly biased because Ely Cathedral is my favorite English cathedral.

Heimdall

I can see Ely Cathedral from the edge of my village. It is known as the "Ship of the Fens".