Small English Villages: Our First Field Trip

Every American we talk to from our life back home says, “How are you enjoying London?” Let’s be clear, there are other cities in England besides London. In fact, we haven’t seen London at all yet, except for two of its airports. We are living in Cambridge. In October, we drove to several of the small English villages around us to see what they were like. This included: Mildenhall, Bury St. Edmunds and Ely.

Small English Villages: Bury St. Edmunds

Our first lesson was that if you are going to visit Bury St. Edmunds, you must be prepared to go first thing in the morning because otherwise, there is no place to park. Apparently, it is so well-known for its medieval abbey, cathedral and other such sites, that visitors flock here especially on the weekends. But, the town is hundreds (and in some places, thousands) of years old. This means narrow streets and pay-by-the-hour parking. We couldn’t get parking, so we will plan better next time. We liked what we saw, though.

Ely: A Historical and Spiritual Experience

Ely is famous for its cathedral and now I know why. The banner out front says: “A place of Christian worship since 673.”  Nope. Not a typo. I intended to write three digits and not four.

The cathedral was having Evensong Mass and a special service honoring the harvest. When you live in a rural area, the harvest is important to your livelihood, after all. It was open to the public, so we sat down for just a few minutes to watch the beginning. I was too distracted by the sheer size and beauty of the building to listen to the clergy, though. I mean, can you blame me?

Experiencing this place is going to be amazing. I know it sounds like that goes without saying, but I wanted to say it anyway.