Cambridge Art Magazine Critic's choice

Night at the Museum

The sounds of Abba could be heard outside The Fitzwilliam Museum last Friday evening. Saxual Healing, an all-female saxophone quartet performed a medley of the band’s songs along with other jazzed-up pop hits on th...

Saved for the Nation

Rarely could £3.9 million be referred to as a bargain-basement price. It could buy you a luxury house, it could buy a more than competent football player, and according to World Aid statistics, it could pay for the...

Cambridge Blog Magazine Critic's choice

Cambridge: ...tastes good

We're always open to trying something new. The recent influx of food festivals, restaurant openings, underground supper clubs and street food vendors has given us plenty of excuses to sample the best food and drink on of...

Royston: Fire Safety

It’s unthinkable really. Imagine an Airbus A380 or a Boeing 747-8 gliding in to land at Stansted Airport. The flight path takes in many small conurbations around the airport, including Royston and Saffron Walden, w...

Bury: Ukraine meets Cuba

A bottle of vodka is suspended above a red velvet curtain. The curtain sways left then right and the vodka moves with it; the curtains open and out steps Ukrainian maestro The Great Vasili. Having quaffed the vodka on hi...

Ely: Folk and Theatre

English folk duo, Megson, played at St Peter’s Church in Ely last week. ‘Better than me’ Grandma's feet’ is how one happy fan described them when he took to his social media account. We can only a...

Cambridge Cinema Magazine Critic's choice

Modern-Day Morality Tale

Tricky things epics. By definition they must be long otherwise they wouldn’t be epic. By necessity, therefore, they take time to explore their thematic content and must sustain quality throughout. This film tries v...

Cambridge Classical & Jazz Magazine Critic's choice

A Night at the Opera

Donizetti is a dazzling draw for opera-goers. A prolific composer he never seems to fail to delight audiences with his thrilling music and driving stories. Back a Donizetti opera and you’re in for a good night out....

Summer Music Festival

One young man, an enormous Steinway and a vast stage – the concert on the evening of May 10th at The West Road Concert Hall, held both tension and promise. Outside the spring green of bosky West Cambridge resounded...

The Evan Parker Trio

It was Frank Zappa who once said that “jazz isn’t dead, it just smells funny”. Well, there were certain moments the other Friday in Kettles’ Yard when the odour became decidedly uncertain. It is t...

Cambridge Eating Out Magazine Critic's choice

Newmarket's new restaurant

Rhubarb is Stuart and Emeline's vision to bring real all-occasion dining to Newmarket, specialising in classic British fare with flair. The town’s answer to European fusion, Rhubarb combines classic British ga...

Kushiara, St Ives

Have you ever wandered past St Ives' oldest restaurant and wondered why there are boats in the window?   Well, one balmy May evening in search of tantalising cuisine we ventured inside and discovered it is because...

Cambridge Arts Picturehouse

There are very few places in Cambridge to while away the entire day, from noon until the late evening, but there's one place where small tables, comfortable cane chairs and stand up tables create a continental style caf&...

Loch Fyne, Cambridge

Loch Fyne, situated just across from the Fitzwilliam Museum, started life as a shack selling oysters on the shores of Loch Fyne. Now a national chain, the Cambridge restaurant is one of the oldest branches and still rema...

Meet you in The Pear Tree!

Set in a the beautiful rural village of Hildersham, just 8 miles south of Cambridge, the Pear Tree Inn is a freehouse where we pride ourselves on providing that special country welcome.Our location lends itself perfectly...

La Maison Du Steak (Cambridge)

This new French restaurant in Cambridge hides away in a previously residential property that looks far too small to house it. This end of the city used to be dirty and dull a year ago, but now shines with new glass-front...

Cambridge Family Magazine Critic's choice

Hunting for bears at Wordfest

Part of the pleasure of Cambridge Wordfest’s We’re Going on a Bear Hunt held on April 12, was hunting for the venue, which entailed an atmospheric walk through St. John’s College and ended in a capaciou...

Cambridge Food and wine Magazine Critic's choice

Ditch The Meat

Gone are the days when being a vegetarian meant wearing your hair in dreadlocks and sporting hemp trousers. Meat-free advocates have finally lost their stereotypical image and as we celebrate National Vegetarian Week fro...

Bottoms up!

Beer lovers rejoice! The Cambridge CAMRA Beer Festival is fast approaching. After record numbers of drinkers attended last year, thousands of people are expected to flock through the gates on Jesus Green during the six d...

Cooking Under Pressure

Judging by some of the chefs on television, you’d expect them all to be angry, unapproachable and a little bit scary. Alex Rushmer turns out to be none of these things: he’s warm, unpretentious and his enthus...

A rainbow of veggie delights

From the 20th to the 26th of May, why not try going veggie? National Vegetarian Week is all about how surprisingly simple it is to go vegetarian.Liz O’Neill, Head of Communications at the Vegetarian Society, said, ...

From Farm to Fayre

Following the recent horsemeat scandal, the prospect of buying meat and poultry direct from farms and certified farmers’ markets has become much more desirable.   I have written recently about our FARMA cert...

All Hail Asparagus!

Apart from being one of the great delights of spring, asparagus argues a particular case for eating local food. The quality of asparagus depends on its freshness; the moment it is cut, the sugars start turning to starch,...

Showcasing locally-brewed beer

One hour after the Apex doors were opened for the East Anglian Beer Festival, the venue was already packed out – despite the fact it was only 1pm on a Friday afternoon. People from Bury St Edmunds and beyond swarme...

Cambridge Gigs & Nightlife Magazine Critic's choice

Surprise, Surprise!

If you’re fed up of Cambridge night life then listen up! A whole new concept for a night on the tiles is being launched with original, imaginative parties being planned to rival decadent nights-out in some of Europ...

Cambridge Lifestyle Magazine Critic's choice

Holistic Health

If an apple a day is no longer keeping the doctor away, and taking a cocktail of pills and potions has become part of daily life, then maybe you’ve just learnt to live with your aches and pains…   ...

Green fingers

Last year’s Chelsea Flower Show saw garden designer Thomas Hoblyn win the People’s Choice Award and the Silver Gilt medal for his spectacular show garden inspired by the great Renaissance gardens of Italy. ...

Online booking at Elajé

Whether you are arranging a holiday, booking a taxi, or ordering flowers, the sheer convenience and ease of online booking is a valuable tool in our busy lives. Now you can book your hair and beauty appointments online w...

Cambridge Shopping Magazine Critic's choice

Hats Off!

When did a hat stop being the thing to wear? Growing up in the eighties Dynasty was at the height of its popularity and Joan Collins and Linda Evans’ power dressing ensembles were often topped off with veiled struc...

Cambridge Sports & Outdoor Magazine Critic's choice

On Your Bike

As Cambridge prepares to welcome the Tour De France next year we look at why the city is so great for cyclists. Here are five great places to visit on two wheels.   Milton Country Park   This park just outs...

Football's costly homecoming

Cambridge United’s chairman has said money should be invested in community sport rather than splurging £88,000 on a giant statue of a referee.   There are plans for a 6ft 7in sculpture to be erected ...

Get fit for summer

Despite the weather, it’s nearly April, daffodils have started blossoming and the murmurings of ‘I must get back to the gym’ have started to resound in the office. So here are some less conventional (an...

Cambridge Theatre Magazine Critic's choice

The Gruffalo's Child

‘Never set foot in the deep, dark wood...’ an adage as well known to today’s youngsters as ‘never talk to strangers’ is to earlier generations thanks to the success of Julia Donaldson and Ax...

Operatic Delights

Three ‘seaside operas’ coming to landlocked Cambridge? At first it seems that the trio of operatic goodies offered by the ever-wonderful English Touring Opera have little in common. But on closer reflection t...

Theatre Royal: Tours

This summer the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds will be offering tours that take you through the Theatre’s history from its Regency beginnings to the present day.The Theatre Royal is one of Bury St Edmunds’s...

The Pitmen Painters

Based on the true story of the Ashington Group, Lee Hall’s Pitmen Painters charts the journey of a group of Geordie miners who became celebrated artists, still revered today.     The unattractive se...

Cambridge Things to do Magazine Critic's choice

Festival Fever

Festival season is just around the corner and Cambridge residents have their own day bursting with live music, off-the-cuff performances, film screenings, tasty food and drink, poetry, quirky stalls, circus acts and much...

Historic Aviation Adventures

Now that we live in less turbulent times, the Royal Air Force has given way to the Imperial War Museum at the historic 1917-built Duxford aerodrome. The museum stages all kinds of events over the year. Next up is the Spr...

Cultural Celebrations

When we think of local fetes and festivals our brains conjure up images of charity raffles, musty stalls and face painting. But Bury Festival 2013 offered so much more, truly showcasing the best of what Bury and Suffolk ...

Times Gone By

Local and Community History Month runs from 1-31 May and encourages us to find out more about the history of our communities, including our family past, our own homes and streets, local buildings and landmarks that we of...

Cambridge's secret gems

Are you local to Cambridge but usually too busy to enjoy it? Here are five suggestions for an enjoyable day or two exploring your own city.    Pepys Library - Magdalene CollegeSituated in Magdalene College gr...

Spring has sprung

If we may be so bold, we'd like to say that this could be one of the most exciting times of the year. Winter is over (ok, someone needs to remind the weather, but it's over officially), all those long, warm, dreamy days ...

Cambridge Travel, talks and tours Magazine Critic's choice

Into the Archives

Prehistoric fossils were the theme of the third Barrington Archive Open Day on Sunday 19 May. An exhibition of work from local primary school children and a fascinating talk about the fossils found in the old cement work...

Putting Ely on the map

The opening of a new luxury boutique hotel in Ely has really set tongues wagging. Poets House in the heart of the historic city centre has already been named one of the ‘World’s Top 20 Cool New Hotels’ ...

Nene Valley Railway

Oh Doctor Beeching, (think popular British television sitcom), if only you could have foreseen Thomas the Tank Engine!   Whilst there may be Chuggington toys in the gift shop there is no doubt which steam engine r...

Holidaying at Home: Norfolk

With the recession affecting us all, we're tightening our purse strings and thinking about every penny we're spending. But that doesn't mean that we’re prepared to do without our summer holiday! Make your money str...

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