Peterborough: a cathedral, a fen, and a very English summer

Peterborough is the destination families ask about last and the one that suits a surprising number of them best. It is small, it is calm, and it has a cathedral that has been standing since 1238 with a ceiling nobody expects. It is also where our second office is, which means the staff a family deals with are the staff in the city.

This is an honest guide to it, including the reasons it might not be what you want.

What kind of place it is

A cathedral city of about two hundred thousand people in the east of England, an hour north of London by train. Flat, green, and built around a market square and a river. The centre is walkable in twenty minutes end to end.

What that means for a student: nothing is far, nothing is intimidating, and the same shopkeeper will recognise them by Wednesday. For a first trip abroad — particularly for a twelve- or thirteen-year-old, or for a student who is nervous about speaking — that is worth more than a skyline.

What it also means: it is not exciting in the way London is. A student who wants a big city will find Peterborough quiet. We would rather say so now than have them discover it on day two.

The cathedral, which is the reason to come

Peterborough Cathedral is one of the most complete Norman buildings in England and it is not on anybody's tourist route, which is exactly why standing in it works. The west front is three vast arches — there is nothing else like it in the country — and inside, the nave ceiling is painted wood from the thirteenth century, the only one of its kind left in Britain and one of four in Europe.

Catherine of Aragon is buried there. Mary, Queen of Scots was too, until her son moved her to Westminster. For a student who has done the Tudors at school, that is a genuinely startling ten minutes.

Admission is free. It takes an hour, and it is the single best thing we do here.

The rest of the week

Flag Fen. A Bronze Age causeway, three thousand years old, preserved in waterlogged peat and still being excavated. There is a reconstructed roundhouse and a lot of very old timber, and it is the kind of place that makes prehistory concrete rather than abstract.

Nene Park and the river. Nine hundred hectares of lakes and meadow on the edge of the city, with rowing, sailing and a path that goes on for miles. On a warm afternoon this is where the group ends up, and it is where students who arrived shy tend to loosen up first — a lake is an easier place to talk than a classroom.

The Nene Valley Railway. A preserved steam line running out of the city. Unashamedly a treat rather than an education, and every group we have ever taken has enjoyed it more than they expected to.

Cambridge, on the full-day excursion — fifty minutes away, and one of the two or three most beautiful university cities in the world. King's College Chapel, punting on the Cam if the weather allows, and the colleges. For a sixteen-year-old thinking about university abroad, this is the day that starts the conversation.

London, on the longer courses. An hour on the train each way, which makes a full day in the capital possible without living there. Westminster, the Tower or the British Museum, then home to a quiet city in the evening — which is a combination the London-based trips cannot offer.

What Peterborough is like to learn English in

Better than its size suggests, and for a specific reason: there are very few other international students here. In Newcastle or London a student will meet other learners; in Peterborough almost everybody they speak to outside the classroom is a British person speaking ordinary English at ordinary speed. That is harder for the first three days and considerably more effective by the second week.

The accent is mild — East Anglian English is close to what a student will have heard on recordings — which makes this an easier first destination than Newcastle for a student whose listening is weak. Newcastle is more rewarding and more of a challenge; Peterborough is gentler.

Accommodation is host families, and the families here are among the longest-standing we work with. How they are chosen and checked is in host family or student residence.

Who it suits

A first trip abroad. Small, calm, walkable, and an office in the city.

A younger student. Twelve and thirteen-year-olds do better here than in a large city, and we place more of them in Peterborough than anywhere else.

A student whose English is weak. Few other learners, a mild accent, and a family who will talk to them.

A family who want a day in London without a fortnight in it. An hour by train, once or twice.

Who it suits less: a student who wants a city with a nightlife and a football stadium — Newcastle is that — and a student who has already done a study holiday somewhere quiet and wants a step up.

The courses

Three tiers, differing in how much of the wider country the afternoons reach: Bronze stays local — the cathedral, the park, Flag Fen; Silver adds Cambridge; Gold adds London and a second full day out.

All three are on the Peterborough destination page, and each course page carries its real day-by-day itinerary rather than a description of one.

Tell us your child's age, whether they have been away from home before and how their English is, on the contact page. Peterborough is the destination we recommend most often for a first trip, and the one families most often come back to.