Three Holes

Three Holes is about as far off the beaten track as the Cambridgeshire Fens get: a scattering of houses straddling the Norfolk-Cambridgeshire county line on the A1101 between Wisbech and Ely, just south of Upwell and Outwell. It takes its unusual name from a bridge with three arches, built in 1609 over the Old Croft River at a crossing once known as Wadingstow, when the Bedford Level drainage works were starting to turn this stretch of marsh into farmland. Before that, the surrounding fen was wet, wild and largely unfarmable, and the people who lived here made their living from eels, wildfowl and reed rather than crops - local fishermen are recorded paying rent to the monasteries of Ely and Ramsey in eels rather than coin.

What the drainage engineers left behind is the landscape you see today: flat, black-soiled fields stretching to the horizon, cut through by dead-straight cuts and drains including the Middle Level Main Drain, which begins near Three Holes and carries water on to the Great Ouse near King's Lynn. It's a landscape built entirely by human hands, and it still works that way - pumping stations, sluices and washes keep the Fens dry, and the Middle Level Navigations that thread through the area give boaters almost a hundred miles of quiet inland waterway to explore. For visitors, Three Holes itself is a blink-and-you-miss-it place, but it makes a peaceful, unusual base for touring the Fens, with Wisbech, Downham Market and Ely all a short drive away.

Top things to do near Three Holes

There isn't much to do in Three Holes itself, but it sits within easy reach of some of the best of the Cambridgeshire and West Norfolk Fens.

• WWT Welney Wetland Centre - one of the country's best wetland reserves, on the Ouse Washes around 20 minutes away, famous for its winter gatherings of thousands of whooper and Bewick's swans.
• Peckover House and Garden - a National Trust Georgian merchant's house on Wisbech's North Brink, with a two-acre walled garden hidden behind its elegant facade.
• Elgood's Brewery and Gardens - a family-run Wisbech brewery dating from 1795, with four acres of gardens open to visitors alongside brewery tours and tastings.
• Middle Level Navigations - nearly 100 miles of navigable Fenland waterway with only a handful of locks, popular for boating, paddling and towpath walks.
• Wisbech and Fenland Museum - one of England's oldest purpose-built museums, with collections covering the history of the Fens and the town's trading past.
• Ely Cathedral - the "Ship of the Fens" is visible for miles across the flat landscape and is one of the great Norman cathedrals of England, around 30 minutes from Three Holes.

Getting to Three Holes

Three Holes sits on the A1101, the main road linking Wisbech and Ely, making it straightforward to reach by car - it's around 10 miles from Wisbech and 20 miles from Ely. The nearest railway stations are at Downham Market and Ely, both on the King's Lynn to Cambridge line, from which onward travel is by car or taxi as there is no direct bus service into the hamlet itself. The flat, quiet Fen roads also make the area popular with cyclists, though as with anywhere in the Fens, distances between villages can be deceptively long.

Best time to visit Three Holes

Late spring and summer bring long, wide-open Fenland skies and the best conditions for exploring the waterways and gardens of Wisbech and Ely by bike or boat. Autumn and winter have their own appeal for wildlife watchers, as the Ouse Washes near Welney fill with thousands of migrating swans and wildfowl between November and February - one of Britain's great winter wildlife spectacles, and well worth timing a visit around.

Where to stay near Three Holes

Accommodation directly in Three Holes is limited, so most visitors base themselves in or around Wisbech, Downham Market or Ely, all within a short drive, or look for rural cottages, farmhouse B&Bs and small campsites scattered across the surrounding Fenland villages of Upwell, Outwell and Welney.

Food and drink near Three Holes

The closest options are in neighbouring Outwell and Upwell, just over the county line - The Crown in Outwell is a traditional riverside local, while the Crown Lodge Hotel in Outwell has a longstanding reputation locally for its restaurant. Wisbech, a short drive away, has a wider choice of cafes, pubs and restaurants, including those around the historic North Brink near Peckover House and Elgood's Brewery.