Excursion to Cambridge

Last Saturday, I was invited to join a group of Bromley summer school students on a day trip to Cambridge. I hadn’t been before so I was just as excited as they were!

When everyone was meeting up at the Bromley centre, it started pouring with rain, but no one’s spirits were dampened! I expected the coach journey to drag, but it went so quickly as the Twin Activity Leaders and I got chatting with the students, who were keen to tell us everything from what they’d been learning about in English classes to the things they’d bought to take back for their families on trips to other exciting cities in the UK.

We started off by wandering through a park towards the city centre from where the coach had dropped us off. Luckily the rain had stopped just as we arrived so it was a really lovely walk! We walked mostly along the River Cam, which provided us with some great photo opportunities of people relaxing while punting along the river. We strolled past some of the famous University of Cambridge’s colleges, which were all really beautiful buildings, and the activity leaders told us about some of the important academics who had studied there.

We then stopped off at the All Saints Garden Art & Craft Market. There we had a bit of time to wander around and look at all the interesting and unique pieces, such as jewellery and ceramics. The market was right near to the stunning Trinity College, within the grounds of which is Newton’s Apple Tree. We all looked a bit confused when the activity leaders led us over to this pretty average looking tree, but everyone started taking lots of photos once they’d explained to us that this was the tree Isaac Newton was sitting under when an apple fell from it and he came up with the theory of gravity!

We walked a little further and then came to the most famous of the University’s colleges, King’s College. Arguably the most impressive building, we also learnt that many famous figures had studied here, including six Nobel Prize winners. We also saw the Corpus Clock, a striking sculpture that was critiqued as one of the best inventions of 2008, after being unveiled by Stephen Hawking, (who is closely connected with the University even now, having worked there for a number of years).

Finally we got some free time to explore the city for ourselves, which was great as we’d passed so many unique little shops dotted around the city, and everyone was eager to buy a trinket or two to take home. When we met up a little later everyone was very excited to talk about what they’d seen, learnt and bought, and it was a shame we weren’t able to stay longer as there was so much to see and do in the city. But sadly, we got back on the coach and made our way home just as it started to rain again; we’d had perfect warm weather the whole time we were there. I really couldn’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday – and imagine visiting an exciting new city and doing new things every weekend for the whole of summer!