Discover Peterborough: Culture, Water and Trails

Peterborough offers unusual connections between cultural history, water landscapes and active experiences. In the city and its surroundings, you will find listed buildings, museums with extensive collections, circular routes through historic landscapes, as well as opportunities for cycling, rowing and water sports. For planning your trip, it is therefore worth deciding first what you would like to focus on and then looking for a suitable holiday rental or holiday cottage in Peterborough.

Cultural history with surprising details

The Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew is listed as a Grade I building. Peterborough Cathedral is also home to the remains of the tomb of Queen Katharine of Aragon. The main pedestrian entrance leads from Market Place through the arched gateway known as Norman Gate to the cathedral grounds.

The Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery spans more than 150 million years of Peterborough’s history, environment and culture through its collections. The Norman-Cross collection is considered the largest and finest collection of its kind in the world. The marine reptile fossils collected locally from the Jurassic Oxford Clay are also of international significance. Anyone interested in historical visual art can discover the murals Wheel of Life, Nativity and King David at Longthorpe Tower.

Flag Fen Museum and Sacrewell offer further insights. Flag Fen is home to one of the earliest wheels discovered in Britain. Children can try out archaeological work in a recreated excavation area there. Sacrewell’s current watermill was built in 1755; Sacrewell also offers 20-minute tractor tours around the farm.

Circular routes, lakes and activities on the water

For a stay involving physical activity, Ferry Meadows offers various options. The Three Lakes Trail is a circular route that starts and ends there and takes approximately 50 minutes to one hour. Along the way, the trail explores settlements from the Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman period. If you prefer travelling by bicycle, Ferry Meadows has a 4-mile (6.4 km) circular cycling route that starts at Lakeside.

The water landscapes also allow for a range of day plans. Nene Outdoors offers kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding and other water sports on Gunwade Lake. Eco-friendly passenger boat trips are offered around Ferry Meadows. Thorpe Meadows has a purpose-built rowing lake surrounded by waterside paths for walking, cycling and jogging. Visitors can also learn to row there.

For a shorter route, the Sculpture Trail in Thorpe Meadows is ideal: it is 3.2 km long and takes approximately one hour. The Three Lakes Trail and the Sculpture Trail therefore differ considerably in length and duration. When planning your day, you can choose whether you prefer a shorter route featuring outdoor art or a longer historical exploration. Flag Fen can be reached on foot via a waterside path that forms part of National Cycle Network Route 63.

Different travel ideas for your accommodation search

Peterborough can therefore be explored both culturally and in terms of nature. If you would like to focus on museums, the cathedral and historic buildings, Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery, the Cathedral, Longthorpe Tower and Flag Fen offer a varied selection. For active days, cycling, walking, rowing and water sports are available instead. Railworld Wildlife Haven complements this mix as a visitor attraction in Peterborough: volunteers transformed a disused coal transshipment site there into an urban green space with ponds and waterfalls.

Another special experience is the Nene Valley Railway. The historic steam railway runs from Peterborough to Wansford. West of Peterborough, the trains travel through rural areas, parkland and riverside areas. This allows you to add a historic journey and scenic impressions to your trip without limiting yourself to just one type of holiday.

When searching for a holiday rental in Peterborough, your preferred daily rhythm can help guide you: are you more interested in planning museum visits and historic buildings, or would you like to combine circular routes, water and sport? The answer determines which experiences you plan in greater detail. For more travel ideas, you can also visit the pages for Wansford, Northborough, Ufford, Barnack and Helpston.

To the higher-level travel overview: Peterborough.