Rupert Brooke’s light-hearted poem “The Old Vicarage,” to which the question about honey is the final line, is set in Grantchester, which lies a gentle meander or leisurely punt ride along the River Cam from nearby Cambridge. Brooke was a member of the Grantchester Group, a social set of writers, artists, and intellectuals that included philosophers Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein, novelists Virginia Woolf and E. M. Forster, economist Maynard Keynes, and artist Augustus John. No doubt they all sipped countless cups of tea, with or without honey, during their time in and around Cambridge. By the time they and other scholars and intellectuals found the city conducive to their study and work, Cambridge had been a centre of learning for more than 800 years. In 1209,a group of academics had walked out of Oxford University over political differences and instead made Cambridge their chosen place of intellectual, artistic, and literary activities. Today, Cambridge counts very many famous people amongst its alumni, boasts 31 colleges, thousands of students (approximately 3,500 admitted each year), more than 11,000 lecturers and other academic-related staff, at least 15 bookshops, 20 or more churches, hundreds of bicycles, and countless coffee bars. It is perhaps easy to imagine that, with so many studious residents, this is the sort of town where tearooms flourish, but sadly, there are very few venues that can be described as true tearooms or tea lounges. And so, in order to save tourists from tiring themselves and expending a good deal of wasted time in the quest for a good afternoon tea, here are six venues that will not disappoint.
The historic centre of Cambridge is small enough to wander on foot, and a visit to the city and its environs affords a very pleasing balance between sightseeing—enjoying the atmosphere of the famous colleges, the museums, the ancient churches and cathedrals, the gently flowing rivers, and the surrounding wetland habitats—and stopping every now and again to relax in one of these special venues and indulge in
