As we were visiting the Cambridge Botanic Garden for a meeting of the Australasian Plant Society last year we decided to stay in Cambridge for 2 nights and searched online for reasonably priced accommodation in the centre of the city. We found a couple of sites devoted to B&B in student accommodation during the summer vacation and although we’d left it quite late we managed to book a double room at Westminster College, an Arts and Crafts style building, formerly a theological college but now called Resource Centre for Learning for the United Reformed Church. Although we are not at all religious we were extremely happy with our ground floor suite of double bedroom, bathroom, walk-in wardrobe and fully fitted kitchen with tea and coffee etc. There was no television but we never want one when we’re away as there’s so much else to do. Breakfast was self-service and eaten in the large student dining room at shared large tables. Everything was spotlessly clean and the staff were friendly and helpful. The down side was that there is no parking so we dropped off our luggage and then parked our car at the nearest of the 3 Park and Ride car parks at a cost of £20. We were within easy walking distance of all the tourist sites, other colleges, museums and the Botanic Garden.
If wanting to stay in a university city it’s worth checking for student accommodation if you are looking for something a bit different and especially if you are travelling by public transport as the older colleges are often centrally located.
“See Westminster College website”:http://www.westminster.cam.ac.uk