Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Orchard StreetOne of my favourite streets in the city, Orchard Street is one of several in the my area that have either botanical or biblical names such as Elm Street, Adam and Eve Street, Eden Street and Paradise Street. This is because they are all in an area that used to be the Garden of Eden allotments - small vegetable gardens and orchards grown by locals. This particular street is one of the prettiest in Cambridge in my opinion. The cottages here originally housed the servants of a very large house - the garden wall of which was directly opposite their front doors. You'll notice they have no upstairs windows at the front (there are two tiny rooms in each roof!) this was so the occupants could not look into the garden and see the gentlemen and ladies taking tea or enjoying an arboreal ambulation... Given that the last of these houses to be sold went for £335k in December you'd have to be a chambermaid of means to live here now...