American Cemetery and Madingley Hall

Despite the late night Jason and I had at the Churchill formal dinner Saturday night, Fiona was still up bright and early Sunday morning, ready for a new adventure. We decided to make the five mile bike ride out to the nearby village of Madingley and the American Cemetery.  I had always wanted to visit the cemetery when we were living here previously, but just never managed to get out there. It was very quiet there on a Sunday morning and we nearly had the place to ourselves.

The outer wall of the small museum on site had this fascinating illustration that was difficult to photograph. It read, “These and many other sites were lent by the people of the United Kingdom to the armed forces of the United States of America in order that they might prepare and support their great military assaults. 1941-1945” Each small black marking denotes an American military installation.

The Cambridge American cemetery is the only WWII American military cemetery on the British Isles. 3,812 WWII United States servicemen rest here. These graves honor approximately 39% of those originally buried. The remains of the other 61% were returned home at the request of the next of kin.

Additionally, 5,127 Americans whose remains were never recovered or identified, or were buried or lost at sea, are inscribed on the Wall of the Missing. The wall extends for 1/10 of a mile and includes names from every state in the union plus the District of Columbia.

The views over the countryside as we left the memorial were beautiful. 

After a stop in at another of our favorite pubs, The Three Horseshoes in Madingley, we continued across the street to Madingley Hall.

Now owned by the University of Cambridge and used for continuing education events and conferencing, the extravagant home was originally build by Sir John Hynde in 1543 and occupied by his descendants for over three centuries. In 1860, Queen Victoria rented it for her son Edward - the future King Edward VII) to live in while attending the University of Cambridge as an undergraduate!
Sure beats my undergraduate accommodations!

Because the house is now in use for conferencing, you can’t really tour it, but the gardens are open to explore.

These manicured lawns were meticulously kept and complete with a cricket game set up and ready for anyone with the urge to play!

After a nice afternoon of exploring, we made the five mile bike ride home feeling like we’d definitely made the most of our day!