Cambridge Diary

1st March 2026

7th February 2026
A window on the world at The Shopkeeper's Daughter.

1st March 2021
In Outwell, in March, Steve the skeleton and his bony chums are still in their winter warmers.
Picture from my book 'Cambridge - Light & Shade'. Available at www.cambridgebooks.co.uk/cambridge-li... and all bookshops

March
Picture from my book 'Cambridge - Light & Shade'. Available at www.cambridgebooks.co.uk/cambridge-li... and all bookshops

28th February 2021
#5yearsago at the Secret Wood.

28th February 2023
In a city of contradictions, an elderly gentleman makes his way along Green Street.
Picture from my book 'Cambridge - Light & Shade'. Available at www.cambridgebooks.co.uk/cambridge-li... and all bookshops

3. as he went. His music faded slowly into the depths, until silence fell. He was neither seen nor heard again.
Picture from my new book 'Cambridge - Light & Shade'. Available at www.cambridgebooks.co.uk/cambridge-li... and all bookshops.

2. One descends into darkness, its ceiling gradually lowering under centuries of rubble. Legend claims it stretches all the way to King’s College Chapel, though its end point in reality remains undiscovered. A haunting tale lingers that long ago, a fiddler ventured into the tunnel, playing boldly ..

1. 27th February 2022
A bricklayer repairs one of Grantchester's oldest and longest walls. This historic boundary runs along Mill Way, stretching from the church past the Orchard Tea Garden to enclose Manor House Farm. Beneath the farmhouse lie vast stone cellars, home to two mysterious tunnels ...

26th February 2021
Some people have to scale the heights to find their place.
Picture from my new book 'Cambridge - Light & Shade'. Available at www.cambridgebooks.co.uk/cambridge-li... and all bookshops.

25th February 2022
A single ceiling light over the bar marks a favourite spot for a regular at the Champion of the Thames.
Picture from my new book 'Cambridge - Light & Shade'. Available at www.cambridgebooks.co.uk/cambridge-li... and all bookshops.

24th February 2021
As we all waited for the final COVID lockdown to lift, Mauriziio's on Mill Road installed two mannequins ‘dining out’. The installation attracted the attention of contemporary artist Grayson Perry and it was featured on his Channel 4 show.

24th February 2023
A hint of Hopper on Victoria Avenue.
Picture from my new book 'Cambridge - Light & Shade'. Available at www.cambridgebooks.co.uk/cambridge-li... and all bookshops.

23rd February 2021
#5yearsago Trinity College gardeners planted 20,000 tiny crocus bulbs around the Newton tree.

23rd February 2023
There are Rothkoesque fields behind Wandlebury Ring.
Picture from my new book 'Cambridge - Light & Shade'. Available at www.cambridgebooks.co.uk/cambridge-li... and all bookshops.

22nd February 2021
Following a minor misunderstanding involving garden decorum, this gnome doesn't appear to mind spending time behind bars .
Picture from my new book 'Cambridge - Light & Shade'. Available at www.cambridgebooks.co.uk/cambridge-li... and all bookshops.

21st February 2021
#5yearsago at St John's College.

20th February 2021
#5yearsago I saw nothing and everything.

19th February 2016
#5yearsago Mother (and Olive), Wicken Fen

20th February 2021
Picture from my new book 'Cambridge - Light & Shade'. Available at www.cambridgebooks.co.uk/cambridge-li... and all bookshops.

19th February 2022
There is a wolf at the door of Miller's Yard.
Picture from my new book 'Cambridge - Light & Shade'. Available at www.cambridgebooks.co.uk/cambridge-li... and all bookshops.

17th February 2021
#5yearsago a sparrowhawk joined me for lunch

17th February 2022
A young girl seems to imagine her entrance to the ball before stepping down the Courtauld staircase at the Fitzwilliam Museum.
Picture from my new book 'Cambridge - Light & Shade'. Available at www.cambridgebooks.co.uk/cambridge-li... and all bookshops.

16th February 2023
A driver strides back to her car on the top floor of the Grand Arcade car park.
Picture from my new book 'Cambridge - Light & Shade'. Available at www.cambridgebooks.co.uk/cambridge-li... and all bookshops.

14th February 2021
#5yearsago Traditional Fen Skating with a Bandy Stick.

14th February 2025
A photographer deliberately disturbs feeding pigeons to add movement to an otherwise static scene.
Picture from my new book 'Cambridge - Light & Shade'. Available at www.cambridgebooks.co.uk/cambridge-li... and all bookshops.

This is it :)

13th February 2016
The e-Luminate Cambridge Festival opened ten years ago today to promote light as the basis for both creative artistic work and innovative technology. This is how Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge looked from the top of Great St Mary's, The University Church, Cambridge tower.

13th February 2023
Peterhouse Head Porter, Ian Blatchford, lowers the College chapel's new chandelier to light the candles.
Picture from my new book 'Cambridge - Light & Shade'. Available at www.cambridgebooks.co.uk/cambridge-li... and all bookshops.

12th February 2016
#5yearsago on King's Parade.