Cambridge weekend in winter. Adults only.

[flissity]

I’ve been in the summer, nice city to wander round in the sunshine, have a punt etc!!
Any recommendations for stuff to do if weather is awful? Child-free weekend.

Go and see The Footlights' panto at the ADC Theatre if you're there when it's on.

Polar museum on lensfield road is quite interesting. We were in Cambridge recently and we did an escape room, which was fun.

Also Heffers bookshop takes me over an hour to mooch around. Great board games section.

If the punts are still out they supply blankets and hot water bottles! Evensong in any college chapel are open to all and free (around 6.30) and very peaceful

From mid-November until early January, Parker’s Piece turns into a ‘North Pole’ with a 600m open-air ice rink, a big wheel, fairground rides and the best food and drink imaginable.
The Winter Garden at the Botanic Gardens, along with their other gardens and collections, are beautiful and well worth a visit.
The Quy Mill Hotel is good for afternoon tea. There is quite a range to choose from, including a Gentleman’s afternoon tea. It has an open fire in the winter.
If you fancy a walk in the countryside, then Grantchester village is only a mile or so away from the city centre. And if you fancy a bite to eat, there's a selection of pubs to choose from like The Red Lion or The Rupert Brooke. Personally I’d recommend The Orchard Tea Garden (has an indoor pavilion in the winter).
The Cambridge Gin Laboratory specialises in making tailor-made gin based on your taste preferences.
There are a lot of high points in Cambridge with spectacular views, but the view at the top of Great St Mary's is the best. Climbing to the top of the tower is definitely something you should do.

The Fitzwilliam Museum is excellent, particularly the paintings IMO.

Great thankyou all! Some good ideas I hadn’t known about.
The gin thing sounds good, but alas I am 11 weeks pg !

Looking forward to our weekend :)

Try Mill Road for food: Tom's Cakes do fabulous cake, also great tapas, Chinese, Italian, Korean, North African restaurants (just being inside Bedouin makes you feel better on a grey winter's day, and the food is really good), brilliant newish Indian restaurant Athiti, excellent posh chippy the Sea Tree, and Vanderlyle which everyone says is amazing (but, inevitably, it's hard to get a table).

Watching as I'm off there next weekend.

Thanks- feel hungry reading that!

I went there for the day in January, hadn't been since I was a teen. Late lunch in the University Arms hotel (amazing food and service, lovely surroundings), then a short stroll to Kings College chapel for evensong (we got there about 20 mins before and queued). Even if you're not a church-goer, it's lovely.

The tapas place is called Tu Casa, by the way, and it's just at the town end of Mill Road. The Italian closest to town is called Maurizio's and is run by the very friendly, slightly eccentric Maurizio. The pizzas are really good.

Fitzbillies and stuff yourself with the best Chelsea buns on the planet.

Now I'm back in UK I want boxes of these for Christmas.

Absolutely do go to Tom's Cakes on Mill Road. Parker's Tavern at the University Arms is also nice (though not cheap). Fitzbillies too for tea and Chelsea buns.
Also make sure you wrap up warm though. Cambridge in the winter is cold. Damp cold. And if it's windy from the East, the chill comes all the way from the Urals!!

We will wrap up! We only live 90 mins away so not expecting it to be warm.

Thanks for all the ideas!!

Bedouin on Mill Road is lovely. There is a similar place called Al Casbah also on Mill Road, but the ambiance in Bedouin is nicer. There is a nice Vietnamese restaurant called Pho near the Corn Exchange.

Polar Museum, Fitzwilliam, Kings College Chapel, St Mary's Church (+ tower with views), Museum of Achaeology and Anthropology, Round Church, Museum of Cambridge...

You've probably got plenty there for a weekend, but I'll just add that Anglesey Abbey (a double misnomer, being just outside Cambridge and not really an abbey) has a splendid winter garden. We went on a sunny February day last year and the scents were glorious.

Really appreciate all this! I do like a wander round a garden... :)

Been beaten to the punch on the Botanic Gardens and Anglesey Abbey but both are worth a visit!