THE WHITE CLIFFS OF CAMBRIDGE

Cambridge by the sea. When we first moved to here 35 years ago I had this odd recurring dream that the city had a hidden coastline known only to a privileged few. Somewhere maybe off De Freville Avenue or possibly down Chaucer Road, through a narrow alleyway and a beyond a high fence, there it was – a beautiful bay kissed by lapping waves and a vanishing point of blue water. Gnarled old fisherfolk mended their nets within a seagull’s call of King’s Parade; cormorants danced on briny barnacles within earshot of Fen Causeway.

The concept that Cambridge has hidden delights and vistas has never left me. The pandemic, if it’s done anything positive, has narrowed my horizons, encouraged adventure on a micro scale. In the home of Tom’s Midnight Garden there are indeed hidden and seemingly undiscovered gems. I admit that an exclusive members-only ocean is unlikely to be out there but that doesn’t mean the city doesn’t have its secrets. Like some latter-day Mike O’ Polo‘, lockdown-related strolls have helped me ‘discover’ the lovely woods at Nine Wells, a string of hidden lakes and a land of high white cliffs.

Nine Wells

The cliffs are to be found in the extraordinary East (chalk) Pit run by the Wildlife Trust in Cherry Hinton. A metal kissing gate takes you into a wide and astonishing 11 hectare landscape reminding one of the White Cliffs of Dover but without the English Channel. My neighbour tells me he has seen peregrine falcons swooping into this mysterious topography of towering walls and undulations caused by excavations of the chalky stuff for over 200 years ago. Coloured strata mark the varying levels of ancient seas that used to cover this part of Eastern England. Maybe my dream was some atavistic vision?

Wandering around in this delightfully weird wonderland does make you believe you have entered some old Hollywood time warp and that Peter Cushing as a crazed dinosaur-hunting boffin can’t be far behind. Stairways in the chalk seem to lead nowhere; footpaths skirt the area though few people come – there is a strange feeling of isolation as though one is miles away from Cambridge even though the Robin Hood pub is five minutes away.

East Pit was a working quarry up until the early 1980s. Its chalk was used for centuries in building the Cambridge colleges and it’s intriguing to think that somewhere in that white vastness is a negative of a dreaming spire. The whole area is a boon for fancy flora with lovely names such as ‘kidney vetch’ and ‘moon carrot’ which grows only here and a couple of other chalky environs in England (but not alas anywhere on the lunar surface).

A mile or two away from East Pit and two minutes from the big Sainsbury’s is Cambridge’s own Lake District. A narrow route known as ‘Snaky Path’ weaves beside a small brook and occasionally there beyond the wild hedges are tantalising glimpses of blue – not my lost sea but two rather large lakes, a magnet for squawking birds and silent anglers. Sadly the lake though owned by our city council  is strictly off limits to the general public; but in winter, when the leaves have gone, no one can stop you enjoying broad views across this impressive stretch of water.

I have one more secret to reveal. Behind the large houses on Grantchester Road, lies another hidden lake. It is large enough for lucky residents to have boat houses and there in the middle, lies a small island. Thither be dragons? I can’t say as the general public are not allowed near. But if you stroll along Fulbrooke Road towards college playing fields, you may catch a glimpse of this elusive etang.

So at least three secret lakes and a Jules Verne ‘land that time forgot’ world of huge white cliffs. Who needs a hidden ocean? Or maybe it really is out there somewhere.

If you have your own hidden corner of Cambridge, do let us know. And if you live by the secret lake in Newnham, please send us a photograph we can use in this article. 

The Hobson Memorial at Nine Wells