Take tea in the charming village of Grantchester and enjoy a long stretch of river and meadows that have changed little since Edwardian times (11).
Grantchester was already a fashionable location for Cambridge students when the boyish, charismatic, 22-year-old graduate Rupert Brooke became a resident in 1909, commuting to and from Cambridge in his canoe and often ‘sitting in the midst of admiring females with nothing on but an embroidered sweater’.
In Cambridge, it was an age of relaxed elegance: long walking tours, sleeping under canvas, picnicking on the grass and naked bathing. Many brilliant young minds gathered around Brooke and his outdoor lifestyle.
Today, it seems little has changed along Grantchester Meadows. On a hot summer day, the languid mile-long stretch of river is dotted with leisurely picnic parties. Punts and canoes glide by, some heading downstream towards Cambridge’s famous Backs, while others head upstream to the tea gardens in Grantchester village. You can hear the occasional splash as punters and picnickers jump into the river to cool off.
Swimming at Paradise Pool
Paradise Pool is a narrow wooded area on the edge of town at the top end of the Meadows. There’s a curly tree ideal for diving, but anywhere along the Meadows is good for swimming, particularly on the wide bends where the river deepens, often to over six feet.
Be warned, though: while the river is clear, clean and warm, the banks and bed are muddy and squelchy.
Many of East Anglia’s rivers suffer from siltation and high quantities of fertiliser run-off, a side effect of the alluvial soils and intensive agriculture in the region. The Cam is actually one of the cleanest rivers in the area, though you should never swim in the actual city or along the Backs, where the sewers can harbour rats and Weil’s disease.
Tea at Grantchester Orchard Tea Garden
Grantchester village is a good place to end your explorations. The Orchard Tea Garden has served tea from its meandering gardens for well over a hundred years. A great sweep of meadow reaches down to the water’s edge, and the deckchairs and low wicker tables are a wonderful place to refuel after a long punt or swim.
It was here that Brooke and the young Bloomsbury Group spent long summers camping and river bathing. Virginia Woolf, who once went naked night-swimming with Brooke near here, christened her Grantchester friends the ‘Neo-Pagans’. Their vision was of a simpler, gentler lifestyle, closer to nature, with strong values of reciprocity and friendship.
Rupert Brooke and the Grantchester Meadows
These idyllic times in Cambridge were short-lived. Rupert Brooke died tragically just a few years later in the First World War, aged 28. He was widely recognised posthumously for his poetry, including ‘The Soldier’, and became a symbol of the innocence of youth and the appreciation of simple pleasures and pastimes.
When his contemporary Bertrand Russell returned to Grantchester after the war, he said of Brooke’s death:
‘I am feeling the weight of the war much more since I came back here… with all the usual Grantchester life stopped. There will be other generations – yet I keep fearing that something of civilisation will be lost for good…’
So visit Grantchester, punt and swim, and ensure Brooke’s legacy lives on.
Sheep’s Green and River Cam Bathing Water
Brooke would certainly be pleased to know that in 2024, Sheep’s Green on the Cam was designated as a bathing water site, one of the first river sites in the UK, marking the culmination of a multi-year campaign led by the Cam Valley Forum, a local environmental group.
The initiative began in 2020, inspired by the successful designation of the River Wharfe at Ilkley. It engaged over 500 residents, with 93% in favour of the designation, and recorded bathing rates of up to 478 bathers in a single day, all of which provided the necessary evidence.
This serves as a case study for other groups, as the designation mandates regular water quality monitoring and compels water companies to address pollution issues. Anglian Water has since committed to investing £5 million to upgrade the Haslingfield sewage works.
It’s one of the key ways to drive improvement in our local rivers
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