|
Lakenheath , England
Does anyone know much about this small town? my husband was born there and would like to visit on a trip this spring. We are wondering how much time with travel it might take. He just wants to see their old house and sped a couple of hours. thanks!
|
|
|
Our son-in-law was stionioned in Lakenheath and he and our daughter lived in Little Port. We visited and loved the quaint area. Visit Ely Cathedral while there, it is just about 10 min away. And if you like steak and kidney pie.......
|
Ely is actuially 20 miles away - 10 mins by one of the planes based at Lakenheath (though the Cathedral authorities rarely give permission for B52s to land in their precincts), but rather (!!) longer on the back roads of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.
There is a railway station at Brandon, but it's tricky getting on to Lakenheath, so you really need to drive. If you're going to be based in London and are nervous of driving in central London (and getting out to NE London from the centre is one of London's more interesting navigational challenges), you'd be best advised to collect a car from Stansted airport: allow about an hour to drive from the airport to Lakenheath, or two and a bit from central London if you've got a navigator as sharp, and used to the terrain, as my dear lady wife. Otherwise at least three. Ely really, really is worth seeing. But the best place to start planning this bit of your trip - again assuming you're based in London - is actually in the British Museum (BM). For some reason, a huge proportion of our most feckless ancestors (you know, the sort who amassed great hoards of coins, or wonderful collections of statues, then left them all in a hole in the ground for 20th cemtury archaeologists to find) lived on, or near, the US bases that cluster round that part of England. So the BM has loads of Anglo-Saxon artefacts from Lakenheath, the Mildenhall Treasure from Lakenheath's sister base and a clutch of other Hoards, Treasures, etc from nearby towns like Hoxne, Thetford and Sutton Hoo. Look at the map in the BM and ponder why people living near US bases in the first millennium AD were so prone to losing things. Or did they make so much from off-base bars and DVD rental stores they literally didn't know what to do with their profits? |
OP - I am really curious. Did you not know that Lakenheath hosts a huge US airforce base?
|
Gree65
Here is another useful web site www.visiteastofengland.com The guided tour of Ely Catherdral takes about 1 hour and is excellent. Sutton Hoo is well worth a visit and is located across from Woodbridge. I don't think you could do both in one day. If you decide to stay in the area consider adding on Cambridge. Sandy |
ttt
|
OK, Gree65 - you got all sorts of wonderful responses but simply topped your thread w/o acknowledging any of them or giving any feedback. Apparently you wanted some different info, but I have no clue what.
|
The area is charming. My daughter lives in Ely. You can see the Cathedral from her house. It is a great little town. Lakenheath is not far from there. I don't remeber there being a lot in Lakenheath but military housing and bases but Cambridge has many old colleges that are worth seeing. They are beautiful. The boat rides down the Thames is great on a warm day. Take you a bottle of wine and some snacks. Petersborough and Norwich is also pretty close. This area is called East Anglia. If you wanted to spend a few days in this area there is lots to see but you would need a car to get from one area to another. There is also a bus line that runs from one town to another. Cambridge also has busses that run all over town. That is the best way to get around there. The streets are narrow and there is very little parking.
|
Thanks for all of the great information. I'm sorry I didn't reply to the above responses! Thanks again! Our trip is a work in progress.
|
| All times are GMT -8. The time now is 11:14 PM. |