I do quite a lot of travelling by train, mostly for work. I seldom think about catching the train for pleasure but actually it’s a brilliant way of getting about. The Great Northern line from London King’s Cross to King’s Lynn includes stops at Royston, Cambridge and Ely, and that gave me a wonderful excuse to take a leisurely day trip and go exploring. The trains I took called at stations in the heart of all sorts of fabulous villages and market towns, and as we pulled through the fields, I watched farmers harvesting in brilliant sunshine.

The aim of my excursion was to show what extraordinary gems there are on or near local train lines, and that’s exactly what I found.

Royston

Being able to hop off the train at Royston, in Hertfordshire, was just lovely. It has so many wonderful historic links. I walked past old pubs such as the Old Bull Inn, a proper hostelry with real history, where kings may or may not have overnighted in wilder times.

I found Royston cave, a huge chalk cave dug by human hand. I’m always thrilled by remarkable things lying behind unassuming-looking doors. You go through a tiny passage and a doorway and then down a steep tunnel under the road, and there you are, in this bell-shaped cave full of these carvings. It’s assumed – because of all the symbology – that they are Knights Templar carvings. There are so many symbols that it’s almost impossible not to find 500 wherever you look.

  • Visiting Royston cave (top); The Honest Fig (below)

Next, I went to an amazing independent cheese shop, The Honest Fig, in a lovely little courtyard. Nothing pleases me more than a little sample of cheese that’s just been cut by the cheesemonger and handed over to you on the tip of a knife. Owner Linda O’Sullivan tells me she’s happy to let customers taste every cheese in the counter. There were hard cheeses and soft cheeses, blue cheeses and goat’s cheeses. There was even one that had been rolled in herbs and the flavours had infused into it. Delicious.

Cambridge

My next stop along the line was Cambridge, where I discovered the Cambridge Gin Laboratory, which was really good fun. The team gives you all these different botanicals to try as you create your own gin. The idea is that you have three different elements – your base, your mid-botanicals, and then the upper notes. You balance them depending on the style of gin you want, selecting from different flavours for each core element.

  • Cambridge Gin Laboratory

There’s something very steampunk about it – the fact that everything’s in tiny little flasks. You have a pipette. You’re siphoning things out of one flask into another and mixing them round. At the end of the day, you’re making gin, but it all feels very scientific. It is a lab after all. And once you’ve made your gin, the team mixes up a bottle that’s entirely to your spec.

  • Dinky Doors’ miniature sculptures are hidden around the city

From the Cambridge Gin Laboratory, I went on to discover Dinky Doors, miniature sculptures dotted around the city. They’re exquisite scenes, doorways of one kind or another, that are witty and beautifully made. The couple who create them, Dinky and Doorsy, are aiming to save the world at a time of chaos by creating things that are delightful. They want their “portals into other worlds”, and the stories behind them, to spark imaginations and make people smile. Dinky and Doorsy do it all anonymously, wearing gigantic masks to hide their identities. The people of Cambridge have clearly taken them to heart because everyone gets very excited whenever a new door appears. It’s a bit like Banksy, on a much smaller Cambridge scale.

Ely

It takes about 20 minutes to get to Ely by train from Cambridge and when I arrive I head straight to Ely Cathedral. Locally, everyone talks about the “ship of the Fens”, because you can see it for miles around. But no one tells you how lovely it is onboard the ship.

When you go inside, it’s absolutely staggering. I don’t think there’s another cathedral interior I’ve seen like it. The ceiling of the nave is breathtaking. And then the extraordinary Octagon tower – the interior gilding and decoration, the colours and the detail are unbelievable.

  • Ely Cathedral’s Octagon tower (top); Dojima Sake Brewery (below)

While I was there, there was an evensong taking place in a side chapel. So I had this beautiful choral music wafting around as I went. The wonderful cathedral guide and I lay on our backs underneath the tower and just stared up at the decoration. It was a very hot afternoon and one of the many magical things about those lovely buildings is that they keep cool.

After the cathedral, I head to Fordham Abbey [the trip is a short journey by taxi, or you can catch a bus there from Ely centre] and the Dojima Sake Brewery, the first of its kind in the UK. The Japanese family that owns Fordham Abbey (the sort of house you rumble up to in a Jane Austen novel) has created a stylish brewery in the grounds that began producing sake in 2018. But before I was shown the brewery, I made a visit to the beautiful Japanese gardens where, in 2024, the family established a shrine dedicated to the sake god.

  • ‘As we pulled through the fields, I watched farmers harvesting in brilliant sunshine’

At the brewery itself, I was shown how its sake is made. When anyone tells you the process of any kind of artisanal food or drink production, you so want to have a taste. And at the end, sure enough, a chilled glass of this absolutely exquisite sake was produced. I savoured it, one sip followed by another, and before I knew it, I’d savoured the whole blooming lot. It was unbelievably delicious, and there it is – made just outside Ely.

Discovering such a hidden gem was a sublime end to the day and really brought home how each stop along the line had its own special story.

To enjoy a similar train journey to Alexander Armstrong, setting off from London King’s Cross and taking in Royston, Cambridge and Ely, visit greatnorthernrail.com