Creeper clad Old Bridge Hotel, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, England, is even more interesting inside. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
Problem
Where to eat driving north of London towards Cambridge, near Huntingdon and St Ives?
Answer
The Old Bridge Hotel. Perfect. Great food. Entertaining.
Stories
We had already eaten twice at the wonderful Old Bridge Hotel, so we scoured around the internet for something new. We found the pretty area of St Ives on the river. Was it the same river, the river Ouse? Oozing charm?
St Ives
After you have tried the Old Bridge Hotel, pretty St Ives is worth a look on a good sunny day. We tried booking lunch in St Ives online. We found the Amore restaurant by the riverside. We assumed we had a reservation. Alas no.
Worse still, we arrived in pouring rain at pretty St Ives, near Cambridge, north east of London, an hour and a quarter from Harrow in north west London.
(St Ives near Cambridge is not to be confused with the other St Ives, another pretty place in Cornwall. Your internet search may bring up the Cornish St Ives first.)
We saw signs saying the area had won an award for blooms. I spotted flowers in a boat.
St Ives is a pretty old place, with narrow streets, nooky shops and swans on the river.
Swans on the river at St Ives, Cambridgeshire.
Flowers on the riverside at St Ives, Cambridgeshire.
Alas the Amore restaurant was closed on Tuesday. (That's the second time in the last two weeks that we have been caught out on Tuesday. The first time was in Romania where the ski lift doesn't operate in summer in Tuesdays - see previous posts on Romania.)
St Ives, in our experience, is not car friendly. We passed the pedestrian area entrance, the narrow old bridge, Poundland, and a museum which is being renovated. We drove round and around trying to get in and trying to get out. We tried to get back again, then tried to get out again. By now we had not found a parking place next to a nice restaurant. The driver and passenger were both unwilling to park miles away and trudge up and down pedestrian only streets in pouring rain looking for a restaurant.
What about the Old Bridge Hotel? That has lots of tables and lots of parking.
Great light and lighting in the restaurant at the Old Bridge Hotel, Huntingdon.
The modern restaurant. at The Old Bridge Hotel. I loved the mirrors.
Downstairs to the cosy old fireplace and red chairs.
In the other direction is the clean, well-kept bar.
The Old Bridge Hotel, Huntingdon
You have a choice of three seating areas. This time we chose to sit upstairs in the restaurant at proper tables.
You can also sit at low tables in a lounge area.
The third choice is the bar area which has tables for two and a fireplace. Or the bar, where the bar stools have proper high supportive backs.
The bread and butter is free. The still or sparkling water is also complimentary.
The Old Bridge Hotel has scarily high prices on the a la carte menu. If you want to book a birthday or special occasion as one group did you can order an expensive meal.
However, if you are careful you can have a very good meal at more moderate prices.
Drinks
Sweet white wine. Loads more choices. Prosecco. Rosé. Kir Royal.
Red wine by the glass
Wines are offered by the bottle and lots of wines by the glass. I could have had a Prosecco. I found several sweet wines on the dessert section.
Sandwiches
Take a look at the sandwich menu. I had chicken and avocado sandwich. I was offered a brown or white bread. You can also have your sandwich hot or cold. Mine came up with crisps and very elegant.
Chicken and avocado sandwich, comes with great crisps and salad.
Pork pie with hard Lord Of The Hundreds cheese.
Lord Of The Hundreds Cheese
The Lord of the Hundreds cheese is made in England. The cheese is made from ewes' milk. A ewe is a female sheep. Only females produce milk. Ewe's cheese is more frequently found in Italian, Spanish and Basque areas because sheep tolerate heat whereas cows don't like heat and are more rarely found in hot countries.
Afterwards we shared a dessert.
Finally coffee comes with a biscotti. (A hard, thick, crunchy Italian biscuit.)
Finally, what makes a classy, comfortable restaurant and hotel? A ladies toilet with matching bottles of hand wash gel and moisturiser so you come out with soft, sweet smelling hands. Really puts you in a good mood.
Tips
Look around the wine shop. They have an Enomatic machine which enables you to try small tastes of several wines for lower prices than for a full glass. Lots of wine bottles are stacked in clearly labelled in easy to find sections.
E n o m a t i c machine for tasting several wines in small quantities at reduced prices.
Cricket ball key fobs. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
The small number of novelties included cricket ball key fobs.
We chanced upon the hotel owner, John Hoskins, who is a master of wine. I had noticed a lot of well spoken people who I assumed were locals.
The English owner of The Old Bridge Hotel and Restaurant.
He told us that in addition many people stop at The Old Bridge Hotel, as they drive through. Why? Because Huntingdon is in the heart of England, at a crossroads. People stop as they drive east from Birmingham. Or north from London. Or south from the north of England to London.
The Old Bridge Hotel
1 High Street
Huntingdon
Cambridgeshire
PE29 3TQ
Tel: 01 480 424 300
Email: oldbridge@huntsbridge.co.uk
www.huntsbridge.com (For the restaurant and hotel.)
www.oldbridgewine.co.uk (For the wine shop.)
Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to my posts.
