St Ives combines a bright future with a rich past. In 2010 the town will celebrate its 900th anniversary. But many people who visit the town for those celebrations will travel here by the very latest technology - the longest guided busway in the world, linking St Ives to Cambridge, opens in 2009.

Visitors and travellers have always been important to St Ives and the town has superb communications. It lies close to the dual-carriageway A14, which connects with the M11, A1(M), M1 and M6 for fast routes to London, East Anglia, the Midlands and the North. Stansted airport and Harwich International ferry port are just 90 minutes away and frequent bus services connect St Ives to Cambridge and Huntingdon with their main-line railway stations.

The more leisurely traveller can come here by boat along the waterways of the Fens and the Great Ouse. In 2007 St Ives was the venue for the Inland Waterways Association’s prestigious National Festival.

There are lots of good reasons to visit St Ives. The 15th-century bridge with its midstream chapel is a unique ancient monument and our connection with one-time St Ives resident Oliver Cromwell is recalled by a statue of him in the market place. The attractive countryside round the town is widely accessible for walking and cycling, with a network of footpaths and several nearby nature reserves.

Within twenty miles you will find the university city of Cambridge and the cathedrals at Ely and Peterborough, while Cambridge’s newly opened Grand Arcade and Peterborough’s Queensgate are two of the biggest shopping centres in East Anglia.

St Ives shops range from outlets of national chains to small, specialist businesses that attract shoppers from miles around. There is a range of pubs, clubs and ethnic restaurants that few towns of this size can match, drawing people from all over the area to enjoy the night life. The Monday Market is a weekly treat, with especially big markets on Bank Holiday Mondays.