Huntingdon

The market town that gave England one of its most famous Lord Protectors has shed most of its medieval charm but retains a proper working-town feel. Oliver Cromwell was born here in 1599, and while his birthplace is long gone, the town still carries that sense of purposeful Protestant plainness.

Huntingdon sits where the Great Ouse meanders through the Cambridgeshire countryside, creating a landscape of water meadows and gentle rises. It's not dramatic - this is fenland farming country - but there's something rather soothing about the flat horizons and big skies.

The surrounding villages offer more character than the town centre itself. Somersham Parish Church of St John The Baptist is worth the short drive, as is The Bulwark, a Civil War fort that speaks to the area's turbulent 17th-century past. For a proper walk, head to Hermitage Marina where the river curves through reed beds, or try The Lake (The Ballast Hole) for a bit of fishing.

Getting here is straightforward enough - the A14 cuts right past, and it's a 20-minute drive from Cambridge. The train station connects to London in about an hour, though services can be patchy.

Staying at one of the nearby parks makes perfect sense if you're exploring this corner of Cambridgeshire. You're well-positioned for day trips to Cambridge, Ely Cathedral, or the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. The countryside around here is ideal for cycling - flat as a pancake and crisscrossed with quiet lanes that follow ancient field boundaries and medieval drove roads.