- Cambridge
- (15)
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United Kingdom
It's free! OK, it's only one day so no camping as such but you'll be struggling to find such a mixture of attendees from hardcore hippies to grans and granchildren, plus a fine selection of music.
Midsummer Common, Cambridge, 6th June 2009 www.strawberry-fair.org.uk
A beautiful, quirky boutique party, where anything goes as long as it glitters!
DO: Take sparkles, dressing up materials and all your eccentricity.
DON'T: Take the programme too literally - while the bands are all just about on time, some of the 'Action Camps' (tents full of various wonderful weirdness) don't open when they say they will, or even exist!
They'll only tell you when you get tickets.
General festival tips
1. Music can be better appreciated from a great height. Make friends with tall men next to you in the crowd (girls and guys) so they can put you on their shoulders.
2. Try and drink spirits rather than beer if you are deadly keen on getting a decent spot in front of your favourite band. There’s nothing worse than having to leave to pee right before they make their entrance.
3. Construct a timetable of all the bands and acts you want to see before leaving home.
4. Use Spotify to check out and listen to every band playing at the festival. Chances are you’ll be madly in love with at least one band you haven’t already heard of this time next year.
At this unique, glittering boutique festival I recomend you push yourself out of your comfort zone and dress up to the max, chitter chat with many a stranger and try excting new things. Explore and indulge yourself!
If you are going to the Secret Garden Party check out some of the surrounding countryside. Godmanchester is a lovely village very close to Huntingdon. Stroll pass canal boats, check out the Fenland countryside or visit a nice village pub. A bit further afield St Ives has a great old bridge and river front with a nice tea room vibe.
Also - someone has to mention it - Pear Cider at Glastonbury!
It was good to read of someone who appreciates the unsung delights of the Cambridgeshire fens (Rowan Pelling, Guardian Travel 14-2-09), especially since my partner and I spent Valentine’s Day in the same area, around Denver. But we didn’t have the “iron-grey” sky that she describes! The sky was blue and the winter sunshine brought out the best of the vast landscape of the Fens, with its big sky.
She visited the famous Denver sluices, impressive indeed. But how can she have missed the other attraction nearby, the Denver windmill with its wonderful tearoom and home bakery (where you can buy fresh bread of various kinds), and accompanying bookshop and leather worker?
From Denver, via Downham Market, you can pick up the A1122 which winds its way to Wisbech through a landscape criss-crossed with waterways. And just to the north of Wisbech, at West Walton village, is a great rarity: a church with a tower, but the tower separated from the church, standing 50 metres away. The church was originally built by Normans in 1240 and, with later modifications, is a real mixture of styles. It is quiet and communicates a great sense of peace.
Cambridgeshire
This is a hidden gem, tucked away down steps accessed via an alleyway off King's Parade, opposite the main gate to King's College. It's a vegetarian establishment but if you're not veggie, don't let that deter you. The place is small but very pleasant inside and the staff are very helpful and friendly. The food was fantastic, really tasty with a very varied choice, not cheap but not overpriced either, and worth every penny. The beetroot chocolate cake was to die for (and I don't particularly like beetroot.) If I didn't live five hours drive away I'd certainly go again just for that. Well worthy of a recommendation.
9a Kings Parade, Cambridge, CB2 1SJ
Telephone: 01223 321551
This is a fantastic hotel and bistro in Cambridge city centre. Literally jaw-dropping rooms with roll top baths, plasma TV and gorgeous smellies. If you cannot get romantic here, then frankly give it up.
The restaurant has a great menu and the food manages to be both unfussy and adventurous. On the first night we were too late to get a table as it was so popular but thirty minutes later they rang to say someone had cancelled which is just brilliant attention to detail. The guy who took us through the 24 cheeses on the cheeseboard was brilliant, the sommelier was excellent and the cosy bar downstairs was the perfect lazy place to go after dinner.
Cambridge itself is quaint, gorgeous, and a delight to walk around, particularly in view of all the colleges, history, parks, river and the shops! The best bit is it was only 50 minutes on a fast train from Kings Cross making it a perfect weekend destination.
It is rare to find a hotel that gets so much right, but this one really does.
This National Trust site has a manor house, with attached farm and gardens which can all be visited. The farm is especially popular with kids - petting areas, a playground with toy tractors, feeding time (hear the pigs oink and squeal as the food approaches) and all the usual farm animals are there - horses, cows, sheep, pigs, poultry, goats, with a few guinea pigs and rabbits thrown in. There are cafes and a restaurant too.
8km southwest of Cambridge, www.wimpole.org
Live the City was great fun. My family and I bought a "pack" and followed the well thought out route around the city. As the day flew by we took in all the sights of Cambridge and solved clues along the way which kept the children ammused. At the end of the day we took part in a big screen multiple choice quiz. This was great fun. I think there should be a Live the City in every city.
Freshly cooked jumbo cod and the best chips for miles.
Cherry Hinton Road, Cambridge (next to the Rock pub).
Nice pub, good beer & great Thai food. Forget pricey restaurants - this is the place to go for Thai in Cambridge.
337 Newmarket Road, Cambridge (opposite retail park);
tel: 01223 566 553
Indian restaurant & take away. Excellent affordable food and the best onion bhajis I've had bar none.
High Street, Ramsey PE26
Tel: 01487 815091
Ramsey is a village in Cambridgeshire.
A life-long teenage ambition to hold his own festival on his family's farmland is finally becoming a reality for Doug, now 50.
Very much a local community-based arts and music festival at heart - three nights of camping, two full days of new and inspiring music - including some very, very special guests!
Doug's family and their army of friends and collaborators are guaranteed to have lots of tricks and surprises up their sleeves to create a truly special and memorable event.
1st-3rd September 2006, Lode village, Cambridgeshire;
www.lodestarfestival.com
One of the best ways to see Cambridge is by punting along the River Cam. There are a number of boatyards along the river from which punts can be hired - either with a 'chauffeur' or without. Although slightly more expensive, if you haven't been punting before, you should go for the chauffeured option if you don't want to end up in the water.
In just over an hour, you can make your way past all of the riverside colleges, starting with Magdelane and ending with Queen's. It's an excellent way to see some of the best (and worst) architecture in Cambridge, including the famous library at Trinity College, the chapel at King's College, and the 'Mathematical Bridge' that joins the two halves of Queen's College.
It's an excellent way to spend a sunny, summer afternoon.
Scudamore's Boatyard is one of the main companies that hires out punts in one-hour time slots. They are located near Magdelane Bridge and also next to the Anchor pub on Silver Street
Send your feedback or queries to been.there@guardian.co.uk
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