Barkway

When I picked Barkway as a destination for my mini-break (or whatever you like to call it) I was merely looking for somewhere convenient for my proposed trips to RHS Hyde Hall and Anglesey Abbey, so it was quite by accident that I stumbled on such a lovely spot. 

Once Barkway sat on the main road between London and Cambridge, and many of the houses which line the high street were once coaching inns.

Now the road goes elsewhere and (outside of commuting hours when people seem to be busy needing to be elsewhere) it's a quiet place, surrounded by open countryside and a network of footpaths obligingly leading through it.

There's a village pond and ac hurch, and on a side road by the latter is another reminder of Barkway's coaching past - a pond constructed for the washing of wagons. Soaking in water also caused the wooden wheels to swell and fit more tightly in their metal rims. 

But the open fields and wide blue skies were calling. We headed up a road opposite the AirBnB, which led to a path, up a rise towards Periwinkle Hill; a peaceful spot, though once site to neighbours' dispute which seems to have turned into a nasty fight.

Up here you can see for miles - in fact with binoculars you should be able to see Ely Cathedral rising out of the Fens about thirty miles away. We didn't see Ely, but walked over to the next village of  Reed, crossing the Greenwich Meridian Line on the way there and back.

This is my sort of walking country; good paths most of the way, good signposting, no narrow stiles to push through, an occasional bench, and an excellent view - and a glorious spring day with snowdrops and violets flowering in the hedges.

I wish we'd been staying longer, but it's not far from home and I hope to be back.