The Dinky Doors Of Cambridge, England

Portals into another dimension? Teleportation from one area to another? Props for a science fiction television show or fairy doors? When one sees the Dinky Doors of Cambridge, England, the tiny doors stir the imagination and delight both young and old. On my most recent trip to Cambridge, I enjoyed venturing out in different directions to try to find all the Dinky Doors.    

The Dinky Doors are all different and are not all in the same area of Cambridge. The funny thing about it is one could say that they are all hiding in plain sight. Many of them probably are never even noticed by people walking by day after day.

One such place is probably the Dinky Door at Parker’s Piece. Parker’s Piece is a large, flat area near the center of Cambridge with two walking and biking paths that cross each other diagonally. In the center where the two paths cross, there is a single lamp post. This lamp post is called the Reality Checkpoint.

The Dinky Door at the Reality Checkpoint looks like an elevator door. It makes me wonder, due to its location, if it is not a normal vertically moving elevator but maybe a horizontally moving one that moves along the intersecting pathways. The only problem with that theory is that there appears to be eight different destinations and only four paths leaving from the lamp post.

The third Dinky Door I found was on Downing Street and I was amazed that it was still there and intact. I knew it existed before I arrived in Cambridge and had been worried that this one, as well as any of the other Dinky Doors in existence, would no longer be there when I was finally able to see it for myself. I think most people would not do anything to harm the doors but as you can see by this picture, it would be easy to step on this one accidentally.

The Dinky Door on Downing Street appears to be a tiny replica of the actual 10 Downing Street’s door to the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership.

In another area of Cambridge near the river, there is a very ordinary Royal Mail receptacle. A much smaller version of it, complete with the little spikes on the top, stands beside it. It is, however, different in that it is black instead of red and also it doesn’t deal with paper mail. It is called a Emailerator.

There are only three steps to using the Emailerator. Number One: You insert your letter and Number Three: Letter gets emailed. The Number Two step I find quite curious. The directions simply say Feisty Magic. It’s thought provoking to me because if you remember the Dinky Door at the Reality Checkpoint, the destinations went from Splendid to Feisty.

Inside this Dinky Door is a little laptop computer and on the screen it says repeatedly, “All work and no play makes Dinky Doors all the more necessary.” This makes complete sense to me.

 The next Dinky Door is actually hard to miss if you are walking in the right direction.

I think that this one could be interpreted in several ways as not everyone will view it the same. It probably would depend on your background and beliefs.   It has the angel carving on All Saint’s Passage looking down on this little doorway with an obvious demon inside the door.

 The next Dinky Door is one that I find quite delightful, as I like tiny things. This one was cleverly placed amongst other shops.

Gifts From Above, what a wonderful idea for a Dinky Door. All the little items are quite ordinary but yet each item makes one wonder why it is on the shelf.

Since I left Cambridge in May, there has been a new door placed there and yet another one still under creation. I’m looking forward to another hunt for more Dinky Doors on my next trip.   I am sure there will be many more to find.  

Please comment and let me know your thoughts about these little doors.

If you wish to know more about the Dinky Doors of Cambridge, you can visit https://www.dinkydoors.co.uk