Newmarket

Standing on Warren Hill in the morning mist, watching Britain’s finest thoroughbreds thunder past, you realise what makes Newmarket so special. Racehorses are all around you — there are yards all over town. Every morning, there are hundreds of horses out training. And these aren’t any old horses. They’re some of the fastest racehorses in the world.

Horses have cantered across this windswept heath ever since James I came here to hunt, and 400 years later racing remains Newmarket’s lifeblood. The town grew up around racing and its layout reflects its sporting origins — Tattersalls, the world’s oldest bloodstock auctioneers, is just behind the high street. The surrounding fields are crisscrossed by 50 miles of gallops.

The hub of the old town is the Jockey Club Rooms, housed in a grand old Georgian building on the high street. The Jockey Club thrashed out the rules of racing here, back in the 1750s, and oversaw the sport for several centuries thereafter. The gentry used to sit in here and fritter away their fortunes, betting on the horses that raced each other down the high street.  As racing became more organised, the action moved to the Rowley Mile, named after Charles II (aka Old Rowley), who loved his racing, and was a pretty good jockey too.

The Rowley Mile is still going strong — it remains one of Britain’s most famous racecourses — but there’s loads of other stuff to do in Newmarket. You can visit the National Stud, and learn about the delicate and costly business of siring future Derby winners. I went on a guided tour (open to all) and relished the awkward spectacle of a retired jockey struggling to explain the meaning of ‘teasing’ and ‘covering’ to some bemused schoolchildren.