Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
is
The Bull,
2-4 Crouch St. (
&
01206/366647;
www.thebullcolchester.co.uk),
regarded as the city's top music venue.
Where to Eat & Stay
North Hill Hotel
A historic building with contemporary style is a winning
combination in this simple but splendid hotel. It's on a quiet road close to the High
Street and only a 10-minute walk from the main railway station. There's an NCP
parking lot opposite where you can get discounted parking (£5 per visit).
The Green
Room Restaurant
uses local produce such as Mersea Island oysters and Blythburgh
pork for its seasonal menus. There are traditional British dishes such as steamed
steak and kidney pudding, too. The lunch menu starts at £6.25 for salmon and herb
fishcakes and rises to £7.95 for beer-battered fish and chips.
North Hill, Colchester CB2 1AD. www.northhillhotel.com.
&
01206/574001.
13 units. £88 double; £98
family room. Rates include English breakfast. AE, MC, V. Parking £5.
Amenities:
Restaurant; bar; room
service.
In room:
TV, hair dryer, Wi-Fi (free).
13
BURY ST. EDMUNDS
70 miles NE of London; 25 miles E of Cambridge; 9 miles N of Lavenham
This is a cathedral city and a classic old market town, still “a handsome little town,
of thriving and cleanly appearance,” as Charles Dickens described it in
The Pickwick
Papers
. Bury St. Edmunds was founded thanks to its
Benedictine abbey
in 1020,
and named after King Edmund of the East Angles, who was buried here in 903.
According to legend, England's reformer barons met in the abbey in 1214 and agreed
to force King John to sign the Charter of Liberties, which led to the Magna Carta of
1215—the most significant document in English history because it introduced the
right of law. Of course Bury St. Edmunds now has many modern buildings, such as
the smart, new
Arc shopping center,
but there are several lovely old corners with
impressive echoes of its medieval past, too. The city was also prosperous during the
17th and 18th centuries thanks to East Anglia's textiles industry, as you can see from
the number of fine buildings, such as the
Theatre Royal,
the only surviving Regency
theatre in the U.K., and the
Athenaeum,
once the Assembly Rooms, where balls
were held in Georgian times, 300 years ago. As an introduction to the town, you can
book a
guided tour
at the Tourist Information Centre. Markets are held on Wednes-
days and Saturdays.
Essentials
GETTING THERE
Trains from London's Liverpool Street (change at Ipswich), or
Kings Cross (change at Cambridge), take 1
1
⁄
2
hours. Trains from Cambridge (£8.50)
take 40 minutes and
Stagecoach
buses (
&
01223/423578;
www.stagecoachbus.
com) leave the city's Drummer Street Station.
By car from London take the M25 to the M11, and the A45 near Cambridge. It
takes about 1
1
⁄
2
hours. It's a 45-minute drive from Cambridge on the A45.
VISITOR INFORMATION
The
Bury St. Edmunds Tourist Information
Centre,
6 Angel Hill (
&
01284/764667;
www.stedmundsbury.gov.uk), is open
Easter to October, Monday to Saturday 9:30am to 5pm. May to September it also
opens Sunday 10am to 3pm. From November to Easter it's open Monday to Friday
10am to 4pm, Saturday 10am to 1pm; and bank holidays 10am to 3pm.
