Things to do in Cambridge when you're not at the Conference
Well, the most obvious things are to visit the Colleges and walk round the historic centre of the city. We have one or two additional ideas to give you a flavour of what’s on offer...but they’re just a sample.
Getting Started
Look at the Visit Cambridge website which gives you up-to-the-minute information on events, films, music and art in and around Cambridge. Or if you prefer to discuss your plans person-to-person you can walk into the Cambridge Visitor Information Centre, situated at The Old Library, Wheeler Street, Cambridge CB2 3QB and meet their helpful staff. (Telephone: 0871 226 8006).
Music
The Cambridge Summer Music Festival coincides with IMPS 2009. It is the city’s annual festival of classical music offering outstanding musical performances in some of the city’s most historic buildings. See the website for details of concerts which coincide with your stay in Cambridge.
If you really like music, a 45 minute train ride takes you to London where the world famous annual BBC Proms Season is taking place at the Royal Albert Hall.
Outdoors
Cambridge Botanic Gardens has a collection of over 10,000 labelled plant species in beautifully landscaped settings, including a rock garden, lake, woodland walk, glasshouses and nine national Collections. A new exhibition links in with the Darwin theme of one of our social events: Carnivores: plants that bite back, and other Darwin discoveries. A fascinating display of carnivorous plants, in the Exhibit House of the Glasshouse Range. The gardens are open from 10:00 - 18:00. The cost is £4 but with reduced rates for those eligible. The address is 1 Brookside, Cambridge, CB2 1JE.
Children
There are plenty of places dedicated to family days out in and around Cambridge. You can find information about a lot of them at Childrens' Leisure.
For children under ten The Cheeky Monkeys Play Barn just outside Cambridge offers a huge range of activities in a unique farm setting. Call 01223 881658 for more information.
Sightseeing
You can take an 80 minute bus ride round the city, starting at Silver Street, to get the lie of the land. Telephone: 01223 423 578. Or try a different view of the city with a guided 45 minute punt tour. See Cambridge River Tours or ring 07789911467 or 07789153877. You could also contact Scudamores.
IMPS 2009 coincides with the first part of the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival: three of his great plays, performed in College grounds in full Elizabethan dress with live Elizabethan music. A really magical and truly English experience.
Tea in Grantchester
The Grantchester Tea Gardens which in the early 1900’s provided a backdrop to a very remarkable group of friends - Rupert Brooke (poet), Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein (philosophers), E M Forster and Virginia Woolf (novelists), John Maynard Keynes (economist), and Augustus John (artist). It was a rural off shoot of the influential Bloomsbury Group which revolutionised English culture. If you really want to arrive in style, Scudamores offer punt or chauffeured car hire to get there.