Melbourn and Meldreth Circular

We start this walk at the Dunsbridge Turnpike, just off the A10, and outside the Green Man pub; the turnpike was a toll gate along the old Cambridge to Royston road and was in use 1793 - 1872.  We walk south along the River Shep and then turn off along the edge of the Kingsway Golf Centre before heading down the Cambridge Road to Melbourn.

Melbourn is a large village in the far south-west of Cambridgeshire and on the edge of the River Mel.  All Saints Church is in the centre; only a couple of pubs remain in Melbourn now from its heyday of 11 inns in 1865.  We walk past Sheene Mill, a former 16th century mill house on the river and now an upmarket restaurant and wedding venue (we have been to friends' weddings there).  Our route takes us along the bank of the River Mel, past the edge of Melbourne Village College playing fields and then under the A10 and over (or under) the railway line that links Cambridge to Royston and then Kings Cross in London.

The course of the River Mel is through the small Melwood Nature Reserve on the outskirts of Meldreth; this is a much smaller village than Melbourn.  We pass the gardens of the British Queen pub and carry on past an old mill (now part of a much larger house). A diversion into the village to Fenny Lane takes us to see the Prime Meridian marker here; this is where longitude is defined as 0° and the village happens to lie directly on this (it was unveiled on 4 December 1999 to celebrate the millennium). We double back and pass the Holy Trinity Church and join the road to Shepreth.

We cut through Shepreth L-Moor (see earlier post) and then follow the path to Frog End down to the A10 and cross over back to the Dunsbridge Turnpike. Read more