Tab Tries: Grantchester

Grantchester is the home to Rupert Brooke, Jeffrey Archer and the Grantchester Barrel Race. Also enclosed within its boundaries, are four pubs, each with their own idiosyncrasies, an orchard, a museum, and the outside world. So, on a sunny afternoon, we walked the 40 minute trip to bring you back news of this outside world. 

First up on our itinerary was the Rupert Brooke pub. A newly renovated drinkery with an impressive food menu to boot. Although it was too early for lunch we ogled the cheesecake longingly.

Barmaid Beth

Double denim

Perfect place for a ponder

We then trotted on down the road to the Blue Ball Inn. This is the smallest pub in the town and its intimate setting is a hit with the locals. Three young female things feeling somewhat at odds with the burly breeds it attracted. They do not serve food and only have two beers on offer, both bitters. However, their selection of bar snacks is impressive and they serve the most local beer of all three pubs. Their beer garden is an oasis. It was here that we truly felt we had put Cambridge behind us in their tree house-cum-hippy hut.

Maud and Margaret

Next stop: The Red Lion. This is the town’s gastro-pub and it was here that we decided to have lunch. For £12 we had a main and a desert. Not too shabby.

A perfect setting for couples to congregate

I would bang AND mash this dish

The Grantchester Orchard, home of The Rupert Brooke Museum, has a nice tea room and we joined the hoards of OAPs sitting under the blossom.

Intellectually vibrant conversation can also be found here

A tree gets the better of Iona

All in all, Grantchester presents a superb escape from intellectual pummelling Cambridge has to offer. Indeed, we have reviewed each pub but our real recommendation is to make a visit to all four pubs. They each have a very different selling point. Why should you choose between scones and oak-smoked sea trout? It’s an unfair predicament that no one should ever be subjected to. As the end of term comes ever nearer, pay a visit to Grantchester – the closest and safest thing to the real world that you should risk trying.