Meandering along the river, past students reclining on the banks, we soak up the rays as our guide steers us down the River Cam.
A Pimm’s boat stops alongside us to serve me and my husband Alistair tipples, which we sip as we float past the college buildings steeped in history.
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As history is my 13-year-old twins’ favourite subject, it’s safe to say our Cambridge break is floating all of our boats.
Punting tours cost from £19 for adults, £11 for children, for 45 minutes (Scudamores.com).
Home sweet home
The river and Jesus Green park, with its famous lido, are just five minutes’ walk from our home for the weekend, The Fellows House Cambridge.
Its apartments are perfect for families, with a kitchen, lounge with TV and two huge ensuites bedrooms that boast waterfall showers and The White Company toiletries.
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The restaurant serves up everything from buttery lemon sole, £27, to tasty veggie option Tofish and chips, £17, plus there’s a pool with a sauna and steam room, where we relax before walking 20 minutes to dinner at Pint Shop in the city centre.
Here, we tuck into Iberico Jamon croquettes and Coppa ham and manchego, £10 each, followed by a char-sui-chicken flatbread kebab, £18, and melt-in-the-mouth-delicious flat-iron steak with chimichurri butter, £25, washed down with a glass of malbec, £9 (Pintshop.co.uk).
Horrible histories
The Imperial War Museum in Duxford is a 15-minute drive away, where we climb onboard Concorde, and read stories of incredible bravery that move us to tears.
Entry costs £29.50 for adults and £14.75 for kids (Iwm.org.uk).
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We’re fuelled by the Full English with home-made hash browns, £16, and a divine eggs royale, £15, that we scoffed earlier at Cambridge institution Fitzbillies.
Its famous Chelsea buns and macarons are also the perfect snacks come afternoon (Fitzbillies.com).
Later, we learn more about Cambridge’s past on a 90-minute walking ghost tour.
The spooky tales are fascinating, and we discover how Henry VIII founded Trinity College, see a descendant of the actual tree that gave Isaac Newton his gravity theory, and hear how Oliver Cromwell’s head was buried at his old college – hundreds of years after it was chopped off!
A private tour costs £120 for up to 20 people (Cantabtours.com).
The twins adore the burgers at The Cambridge Brew House – my daughter Riley says her crispy chicken burger, £15.50, is the best she’s ever had – and the sharing board of buffalo wings with Frank’s Redhot Sauce, £13.50, is a hit, too (Thecambridgebrewhouse.com).
Escape artists
We round off the weekend with a trip to the market and Cambridge’s independent shops – The Cambridge Cheese Company is my favourite find (Cambridgecheese.com) – before we attempt an Egyptian-themed escape room at LockHouse Escape Games.
We fail to make it out within the hour, but we do solve it – eventually!
Sessions cost from £26 per person (Lockhouse.co.uk).
We don’t want to escape Cambridge itself, though…
FYI
Plan your trip at Visitcambridge.org.
Family rooms at The Fellows House cost from £235 a night (Hilton.com).
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