Best Places to Visit in Cambridgeshire
Written by UK Hidden Gems Editorial
Updated 5 August 2026
The best places to visit in Cambridgeshire are Woodston Ponds, Cherry Hinton Hall, Dogsthorpe Star Pit, Nene Park, Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery, Longthorpe Tower and Railworld Wildlife Haven.
Cambridgeshire is a county of fenland, rivers and old clay country, and much of its finest ground gathers around Peterborough and the River Nene. The great surprise is Longthorpe Tower, a medieval tower covered inside with the fullest set of domestic wall paintings in northern Europe, while Peterborough Museum keeps internationally important Jurassic sea-reptile fossils dug from the local clay, along with a rare Victorian operating theatre.
For the outdoors, Nene Park spreads its lakes and meadows along the river at Ferry Meadows, the Woodston Ponds and Dogsthorpe Star Pit reserves hold birds and rare beetles on old industrial land, and Railworld pairs railway heritage with a wildlife haven by the station. Over at Cambridge, Cherry Hinton Hall gives the city a green park and the home of its folk festival.
From medieval paintings to reclaimed clay pits, here are seven places to visit across Cambridgeshire.
Woodston Ponds
Photo: DS Pugh via Geograph.org.uk
Woodston Ponds Beside the River Nene in Peterborough, on ground once given over to industry, settling ponds here formerly caught the washings from a sugar-beet works. Today reedbeds, pools and a small lake shelter reed warblers, herons, ducks and great crested newts.
A boardwalk circles the western reedbed and a viewing platform looks out over the lake, all reached from Wharf Road or across a footbridge spanning the Nene. The local Wildlife Trust has looked after the reserve since 2003, keeping it free and open around the clock.
Bring binoculars and let the quiet do the rest.
Cherry Hinton Hall
Photo: John Sutton via Geograph.org.uk
Cherry Hinton Hall is a public park around an old hall on the edge of Cambridge, run by the city council. The grounds hold a large ornamental lake with wildfowl, mature trees, a children's play area and a water play area.
Wide lawns give it plenty of open space for walking and games. It is the long-standing home of the Cambridge Folk Festival, held here each summer.
Dogsthorpe Star Pit
Photo: Rodney Burton via Geograph.org.uk
Dogsthorpe Star Pit Once dug for clay to feed a brickworks, this old pit northeast of Peterborough is now a nature reserve in the care of the local Wildlife Trust. Its thirty-six hectares mix grassland, scrub, reedbed, bare clay and shallow pools into a protected site of special scientific interest, prized above all for water beetles, with more than sixty species recorded here alongside dragonflies, kingfishers and orchids.
The Oxford Clay beneath holds fossils, and a sizeable Jurassic fish turned up in the 1980s. You reach it on foot, where the water lies deep and cold.
Tread carefully near the edges.
Nene Park
Photo: Chris Heaton via Geograph.org.uk
Nene Park is a large country park on the western edge of Peterborough, straddling the River Nene, with its busiest part at Ferry Meadows. There the park spreads across meadows, woodland and three lakes, threaded with walking and cycling trails, and offers sailing, kayaking, boat hire, play areas, a miniature railway, a cafe and a visitor centre.
A heritage steam railway runs through it. The park opened in 1978 and stretches for several miles along the river, a well-used green space for the city.
Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery
Photo: Dylan Moore via Geograph.org.uk
Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery Set within an 1816 Georgian mansion on Priestgate, in the heart of the city, this museum gained an art gallery wing in 1939. More than two hundred thousand items fill its collections, and it is celebrated above all for internationally important Jurassic marine reptile fossils dug from the surrounding clay, alongside archaeology, art and manuscripts left by the poet John Clare.
Between 1857 and 1928 the building served as the city's infirmary, and a Victorian operating theatre dating to 1897 still survives within, among only a handful remaining anywhere in the country. It rewards a slow, curious wander.
Longthorpe Tower
Photo: Michael Dibb via Geograph.org.uk
Longthorpe Tower is a three-storey medieval tower added to an old manor house on the edge of Peterborough, known above all for its wall paintings. The first-floor room is covered almost completely in painted scenes from around 1330, the fullest set of domestic medieval wall paintings in northern Europe, including the rare Wheel of the Five Senses along with biblical scenes, the labours of the months and birds and beasts.
The tower itself, built about 1300 of stone, stands some thirteen metres to its parapet. The paintings were whitewashed over at the Reformation and only found again in the 1940s.
It is looked after by English Heritage.
Railworld Wildlife Haven
Photo: Ashley Dace via Geograph.org.uk
Railworld Wildlife Haven On a former coal yard beside the River Nene close to Peterborough station, this volunteer-run attraction pairs railway heritage with a nature site. Model railways and railway displays fill the space indoors and out, among them the preserved RTV 31 hover-train prototype, while the wildlife half offers landscaped ponds, waterfalls and nature trails with a bird hide.
There is also a display exploring environmental issues around the world. The Nene Valley heritage railway runs right alongside, and Railworld opens on set days as the season allows.
It is an unusual mix well worth an afternoon.
FAQs
What makes Longthorpe Tower special?
Longthorpe Tower's first-floor room is covered almost completely in wall paintings from around 1330, the fullest set of domestic medieval wall paintings in northern Europe, including the rare Wheel of the Five Senses along with biblical scenes and the labours of the months. Whitewashed over at the Reformation, they were only found again in the 1940s.
Where can you see fossils in Cambridgeshire?
Peterborough Museum, in a Georgian mansion on Priestgate, holds internationally important Jurassic marine reptile fossils dug from the local clay, along with a rare preserved Victorian operating theatre. The Dogsthorpe Star Pit reserve sits on fossil-bearing Oxford Clay, where a large Jurassic fish was found in the 1980s.
Which places in Cambridgeshire are good for a family day out?
Nene Park at Ferry Meadows spreads lakes and meadows along the river with boat hire, a miniature railway, play areas and a cafe, and Cherry Hinton Hall gives Cambridge a park with a lake and play areas. Railworld, by the station, pairs model railways with a wildlife haven.
Conclusion
Cambridgeshire keeps much of its interest around Peterborough and the Nene. Longthorpe Tower hides the fullest set of medieval domestic wall paintings in northern Europe, and the city museum holds its Jurassic sea-reptile fossils and a rare Victorian operating theatre.
Along the river, Nene Park spreads lakes and meadows at Ferry Meadows, while the reclaimed clay and industrial ground of Woodston Ponds and Dogsthorpe Star Pit now teems with birds and rare beetles, and Railworld joins railways to a wildlife haven by the station. Over at Cambridge, Cherry Hinton Hall gives the city its folk-festival park.
From medieval paint to reclaimed pit, these are the places to seek out across Cambridgeshire.
