St Neots, Huntingdonshire, England
Ah, St Neots. It is a nice little town a quick drive from Huntingdon and remarkably active as I quickly learned. It's a great place to go on Friday and Saturday evenings and normally on the weekend there's something going on in the city center. A thriving little community, not at a Cambridge level but close, active and with typical English architecture. There is a festival during the summer where you can see the locals in historical traditional dress.
As you can tell from the picture the city square is an active place and the streets are lined with interesting little shops selling everything a local or tourist could want. I drove over many times to watch the events hosted there.
The city itself has plenty of cobblestone streets and buildings that look like something from centuries ago. Along with these buildings with their historical feel are modern buildings of course as with most cities new structures appear all the time. These pictures are of a festival where everyone wore traditional dress and which I find so fascinating. Also in this square there is a nice little coffee house where I would show up on Sunday to have a cup and read the local paper. There is also a park further up the road across the river with convenient parking and as I recall it was free or rather inexpensive.
Oh, there are several bakeries in the town and I just loved the local baked goods and the look in their eyes when I asked for something and drew their attention due to my “Accent”. I remember one bakery I walked in to along a side street and I think the woman working the counter was from Ukraine or Russia somewhere so English was not her native language. Added to that was my twist on the language as I was speaking American English and she stared at me initially trying no doubt to decipher what I had just said. We finally worked out what I wanted and I was on my way. In case I haven’t mentioned it I just love being somewhere I have and accent and can be understood, as it makes the whole trip fascinating. Anyhow, if you are in the area, go to St. Neots, the people are nice and it is an active little town with plenty to do.
The Wizard