Back to Cambridge

Our latest trip was a return to Cambridge. At the risk of being drummed out of the brownies we stayed at the C&CC site as Cherry Hinton was full. Unbeknown to me it was the Cambridge Festival being held at Cherry Hinton Hall which may have influenced pitch availability. That being said the C&CC site was very nice and situated nearer to the M11 so access was easier but perhaps not quite so convenient for the City Centre. 

There was  a bus stop about 300 metres from the site with a fairly regular service into the City. Although be warned that the congestion in Cambridge can play havoc with the timetables! Two weeks before we left for this trip I applied for a new bus pass as my old one was about to expire. Either I didn’t do something right or MK Council were being particularly slow but the new one had not arrived before we left so shock horror I had to pay!!! 

After a roundabout journey we alighted in the centre and decided to have a pit stop in the Grand Arcade before setting off for our planned destination, the Fitzwilliam Museum. En route we had a wander round Pembroke College. The Museum was just a little further along the road. May be not everyone’s cup of tea but this is a wonderful museum and better still entrance is free. There is something for everyone but we concentrated on the Porcelain  collections and the painting galleries. They have a fine collection of JMW Turner’s (or Timothy Spall to you and I!!!)  watercolour sketches which were donated to the museum by John Ruskin the well-known Victorian  Art Critic. There are pictures from many other famous artists also on display. 

The next day we had a bit of a rest. However we had discovered that there was a Sunday only bus service to the Duxford Aviation Museum so we set off to discover where it went from. We found where it left from which conveniently was close to a Waitrose so we made use of our My Waitrose cards for a free cup of tea. 

The bus to Duxford was only every two hours so we got to the bus stop in plenty of time. Unusually for a local bus service it uses the motorway so the journey is pretty quick. Duxford is a wonderful place for all ages with so much to see. There are 8 indoor exhibition hangers/rooms and lots of outdoor displays as well. Being about aviation it deals with a relatively short time scale but most of it is familiar. If you are brave enough you can even have a flight in a vintage aircraft!!! 

We had been lucky with the weather although our final day was a bit mixed but very hot and muggy. Rather than go back into Cambridge we settled for walking along to the Garden Centre which is near the site. It has one of the best selections of perennial plants I have seen. Being only 50 miles from home it did cross my mind that a trip out in the car might well be worthwhile.