Tower Tours: See Peterborough in new light with sublime 360 degree views on access-all-area Cathedral tour

Though Peterborough Cathedral is the city’s most iconic landmark, it’s fair to say many Peterborians remain unaware of all it has to offer.

The perfect antidote to this is the Cathedral’s ‘Tower Tour’, a two-hour long privilege which allows visitors to discover secretive nooks, crannies and vantage points and savour views which are nothing short of sublime.

The tour starts with a pre-tour briefing where your two knowledgeable guides (always two, for safety reasons) give a safety talk.

Disclaimer forms signed and you’re led to the North Transept where a creaking door is opened to reveal a winding staircase leading up to the evocatively named ‘upper levels’.

A short climb sees you enter the 900-year-old Cathedral’s awesome triforium, an interior gallery which opens out to yield the first sensational view. From here the whole of the nave is visible in one complete vista; the only other British cathedral offering a similar, unobstructed view is Westminster Abbey.

Passing splendid stained glass windows and inching along narrow walkways brings you to another reward - a close up view of the exquisite painted nave ceiling.

From here, you can see the detail of the symbolic images and appreciate the glorious frieze skirting beneath it.

An even creakier door and ever-narrowing winding stairs take you up to the attic, where Herculean timbers of German oak dating back to the Norman Conquest stand resolute like immortal guardians.

A short walk and climb from here is the Lantern Tower. This is where the vertigo may kick in for some as, several storeys up now, the bright and cavernous void makes the unaware people below look like ants.

Through a small door that’s essentially an enlarged cat flap you progress, onwards and upwards, until you exit the building and are greeted with the kind of 360-degree view that makes people say “oh my…” aloud.

Standing at the same height as 10 stacked double-decker buses, the vista from the cathedral’s rooftop is sensational. On a clear day, you can even see Ely Cathedral. This really is a memorable way to see Peterborough – and its most iconic landmark – in a truly new light.

To find out more about Tower Tours and book online, visit the Cathedral website. Tickets cost £15 per person.