A Quick Visit to Peterborough

Peterborough is easy to overlook as a place to visit, and one full day is probably enough for the tourist, to see the Cathedral, the great little museum and perhaps the Nene Valley Railway. For those of us living in south Lincolnshire Peterborough has the shops that we need to visit when our local shops can't quite supply our needs, and it has the hospital we sometimes have to visit.



For me it is a fifteen-minute ride by Cross Country Trains, and that ride is the start of many of my longer adventures for I often change trains at Peterborough for London and for the north. More often Peterborough itself is the destination and I find the train the most relaxing way of getting there. Alternatively, during the working day there is a bus route which is more scenic but does take three times as long.

On the roof

Had a little trip to London last weekend and visited the Kensington Roof Gardens in Kensington High Street, a long-cherished ambition. Open to the public when not hired for a function and now owned by the Virgin Group, the gardens were established in 1938 on the roof of what was then Derry & Toms department store. The bar and restaurant had not yet opened for the afternoon, but that is probably just as well ... My photographs are on Flickr for those who are interested.

Travel was, naturally, Cross Country Trains to Peterborough and then first class (advance ticket, of course!) on what is now Virgin Trains East Coast to Kings Cross. Is there anything where Virgin does not have a stake?
On the way to London we were served coffee and biscuits before the refreshment service closed down as the end of the journey approached, and on the return there was tea, sandwiches and cake, not bad for a Saturday evening on such a short run - it is only 50 minutes between London and Peterborough.