A Day Out with Elspeth in Cambridge

This is the farthest train station from the town that I have never encountered, bar Cheltenham. Allegedly, the university was to blame, believing that noisy dirty trains would encourage their students to travel to London for prostitutes.

And so to this day, all who visit by train suffer - not much fun if you're a commuter.

Set aside half an hour and stroll down the Hills road - or take a bus for £1.10 (single).

Although you'll pass a few useful shops and restaurants, you don't see much of interest for some time. The big spire of the Catholic church is a good pointer. When you reach it, you'll be at open space Parker's Piece and you'll soon have your first glimpse of a college - classical Downing - to your left. Eating options are presented, and I recommend the café in the Arts cinema you're shortly to pass, which has an apt mix of arty and proper old cinema feel; cheap crêpes with scholarly themed names. Portuguese chicken chain Nando's next door has what I think are service room doors of a great hall inside.

The centre isn't special until you are practically in the market square. Beige abounds, often in blocky modern buildings. Cambridge is proud of its two new shopping areas - the Christ's Lane Centre and Grand Arcade. As much as I didn't enjoy the former Bradwell's Court, since its demolition the greasy spoon café cheapy shops patrons have no nowhere to go and this seems to give message to visitors and residents that only certain people are welcome. Iceland and Woolworth's all went that way - allegedly with rents being raised that these timbre of shops cannot pay.

Cambridge is small in some ways and if you took away the college buildings, unremarkable. Rose Crescent's more interesting for the shops and cafes in it that n for being a piece of regency architecture. The market feels much like a market town - which may sound obvious - but there's a feel with an open air market of being provincial rather than cosmopolitan.

But by now you'll have seen King's College chapel's parapets over the university church - and you'll have already had one Tudor Gatehouse to admire at Christ's College. Yet I'm not going to emphasize the colleges - it has been done so many times. And as one who has lived and worked here, but studied elsewhere, the academic buildings become less vital or possibly even a little resentful. Cambridge is home to a little more than 100,000 people and the place of work, shopping and entertainment for many more; a large proportion of whom are not connected to England's Ivy League equivalent.

Having taken the Oxbridge out, perhaps I have given myself little to comment on. The large bookshops - although sadly no major new books independents - are a draw, as is the arts cinema. There's at least three festival here - Strawberry Fair music in June, The bi yearly literary festival and September's film festival. Along with Norwich, this is East Anglia's most cultural hub and perhaps better than other towns of this size. My earlier provincial comment is juxtaposed against perhaps contradictory observation that with large and often posh shops, café cutrlure and well, just culture, that this does have both the feel of the market town and the more buzzing city at once. Yet the theatre offering isn't as strong here as it might be and it also has fewer cinemas than Norwich.

There are a few churches of note other than college chapels, although these are often in other guides and so I'll let them tell you about Great St Mary's, Saxon St Bene't's and the Norman round church. There's the two Churches Conservation Trust churches. Walking to St Peter's, by the castle mound will allow you to see a pretty old street - Northampton Street - and find the Folk Museum and Kettle's Yard gallery. You can continue your walk across the Backs and those famous views that strangely were little part of my life in Cambridge.

The greenery is a strong point in Cambridge's favour, as are the pubs. The Granta's set in meadows and is one of several by the river. Many are the sort of place you can actually sit and talk rather than stand in someone's chest and elbow and shout over loud music. There's few style bars in Cambridge, of which I am glad. B Bar might be an exception, but housed in the former arts cinema on several levels, it is a welcome one.

Ipswich claims more restaurants than Cambridge and whilst I haven't counted them, can vouch that Cambridge's offering is actually relatively small. It has 11 Italians there, all but two of which are chains. Caffe Uno's by the quay; the Jesus Lane Pizza Express is in a Titanic first Class Lounge style former gentleman's club; and Zizzi offers views over parker's Piece, but only the Jesus lane branch is exceptional.

The best place for international fare and feel is Mill's road which you may wish to visit on your way back to the train; or more central King's street, which leads towards the Grafton shopping centre.

My favourite street in Cambridge changes its name - it is Trinity/St John's Street. Walking along it in either direction leads to the river and round Church or to walk straight past King's College and onto the river at Silver Street - another quiet enclave. Trinity/St Johns' passes the great Tudor gates of both of those colleges, and the only tower of note in the city. But it's not the colleges that make that street for me alone, it's the other building, the 17th C Laura Ashley shop, the old bowed windows, Heffer's bookshop (one of Blackwell's flagship stores).

There are the university museums to see and the other green areas by the river to walk by, but I recommend finding a nice café or pub, and wandering home via Mills Road to see how the Cambridge beyond academia lives.