A market town in rural Suffolk, Bury St Edmunds has history on par with Cambridge yet without the ensuing crowds: Here you'll find Britain's smallest pub The Nutshell, a pre-Victorian theatre built by William Wilkins, architect of London's National Gallery and Britain's first internally lit street sign. The town's focal point however are the Abbey Gardens, comprising of the castle ruins where the bones of East Anglia's Saxon king St Edmund were returned after he was killed by the Danes in 870 AD.
Since King Henry VIII dissolved the Abbey little of it is now left, although there are some formidable flower displays, green spaces, and a water garden in which to sit and let the day drift by. Next to the Gardens is Bury Cathedral, where pilgrims have been travelling to for years, and over the road is the Angel Hotel, a beautiful coaching inn where Charles Dickens once rested his head and penned part of the Pickwick Papers. Bury also hosts a handful of High Street shops and some alluring boutiques as well as some credible independent restaurants to try out. The town is also home to the Greene King Brewery, running frequent guided tours.
- The 'market' aspect of Bury is still very much alive with a market held every Wednesday and Saturday. Offerings include anything from fresh fruit, veg, fish and meat to tracksuits for an acquired taste!