THE CHARM OF CAMBRIDGE

Common associations with Cambridge could be obvious thoughts of the famous old university sites, students cycling along the city's steeped-in history streets or maybe a leisurely punt along the river Cam? This imagery is obviously based on what does exist in one of the country's prime seats of education, but in the five hours of time we had on our visit, we were keen to scratch beneath the surface of widely held perceptions and discover a little more.

The Thameslink train from Finsbury Park transports passengers directly to Cambridge at 10.41 and takes exactly an hour. The main sights that we were interested in are a brisk fifteen minute walk along St Andrew's, Sidney and Market Streets, leading us to our first port of call, St Mary the Great Church in the centre of town, next to the market. Dating back to the twelve hundreds, this grand old building has a tower accessed by a winding and narrow one hundred and ninety two steps, and from here unrivalled aerial views can be seen across the city's landscape. Unfortunately for us we were there during a period of rain, so the panoramic scene wasn't as resplendent as a typical summer's day would be.

We decided that due to the precipitation, a pit stop in the much-heralded Fitzbillies (there are several of this bakery chain in town) only a few yards down from the church, would allow us some respite from the elements. The 'world famous' syrupy Chelsea bun had to be sampled along with a homemade sausage roll, and we can verify that both are excellent, if not a little steeply priced. By the time wed finished, the rain had halted and directly opposite is the renowned King's College University site, which charges to enter, so we didn't, and of more interest was the pleasant, traditional looking 'Fudge King', also in the immediate vicinity.

Doing exactly what it says on the tin, this shop stole twenty minutes of our time and with justified reason. The two guys running the show were very welcoming, allowing us to try numerous varieties of their made-in-house treats (if you ate a slice of the rum and raisin in one hit I reckon you'd be inebriated!), all of which were divine; a fudge experience more smooth and creamy than anything we'd had before, and we are fudge veterans! We were also shown how a roll of fudge is made and it really is an artisans' craft, with every stage explained. Fudge King wasn't on our list originally but it will be next time and for the record, we eventually settled for the clotted cream flavour, which was polished off before we'd got home!

A punt on the river is an activity linked closely with Cambridge and, upon emerging at the Silver Street Bridge, we were greeted by a couple of company's representatives very gently and politely presenting their excursion's virtues. The scene was idyllic with cows grazing among the public one side of the bridge and the beautiful wooden Mathematical Bridge on the other. Despite the promise of an insightful ride, the weather conditions still weren't great and we didn't want to take a punt on them improving, so opted against the cheaper twenty pound per person offer in favour of a stroll along a few hundred metres of the river's path amongst our new bovine friends to the Millworks. Although this was delightfully pituresque, it was slightly disappointing as a punt was one of our main objectives, but, on a sunnier day, can be revisited.

Cambridge is easily traversable for pedestrians (you do have to be aware of the vast number of bicycles whizzing around though!) with seemingly no inclines and plenty to browse around the quaint and well maintained streets and buildings, some of which pre-date the Tudor period. Geared towards the tourist in many respects, there's a nicely balanced array of independents, coffee shops, high street outlets and restaurants, as well as souvenir shops and various tour guide operators.

There were a few highly praised restaurants that we'd pondered for lunch, but The Tiffin Truck was victorious as our destination of choice and we're glad that it did. Between us we had a fragrant lamb biryani, a spicy fish chettinad and a portion of basmati rice. This left us replete and was well priced. A telling sign of the quality of this eatery is that there were plenty of diners present, even at the less popular dining time of between half two and half three.

With half an hour to spare prior to our train departing and the previous patch of drizzle abating, we had sufficient time to have a perusal along Mil Road, somewhere described as being a mixture of vintage stores and restaurants serving cuisine of varied origins. We can attest to the latter a late being abundantly available, with everything from Lebanese to Spanish and Greek to North African present on this stretch. Shops selling anything of a vintage description, however, seemed to be a bit of fallacy as we found none whatsoever! Neither the lack of vintage stores or the intermittent unseasonal weather could dampen our enthusiasm, though, as we trundled back to the train station, quite content with our efforts and, having been impressed with Cambridge's charm, have avowed to return for a punt and a roast dinner on a sunny Sunday.