A peaceful place to pause while bustling about in the city, with welcoming services. The occasional…read morebooksales in the neighbouring Henry Martyn Hall are an excellent place to find bargains!

Anglesey Abbey is a National Trust property, comprising a country house, 100 acres of landscaped…read moregrounds, and a working water mill. It is immensely popular, and has one of the Trust's largest restaurants. The site began life early in the 12th century as a priory of Augustinian Canons (it was never actually an Abbey). At the dissolution, it was sold, and much of the stone was removed to build nearby Madingley Hall. In 1595 it was acquired by the Fowkes family, who turned the remains into a Jacobean-style house, incorporating the Chapter House and Monk's warming room. It passed through a series of owners over the next 300 years, who added further wings and developed the grounds as an arboretum and garden. In 1926, it was acquired by two Anglo-American brothers, Urban Huttleston Broughton and his brother, Henry Rogers Broughton, who had recently inherited a fortune from their maternal grandfather. Broughton also inherited the title Lord Fairhaven, which had been granted to his father, who died before it could be conferred. On his marriage, Henry vacated the house and his older brother, now Lord Fairhaven, set about making further alterations and extensions, turning it into a comfortable and modern aristocratic country home, filled with his growing collection of antiques. These include an important collection of tapestries, paintings (notably a large number of landscapes of Windsor Castle), furniture, books and clocks. A notable item is the famous, late 18th Century "Pagoda Clock", regarded as one of the treasures of the National Trust. On chiming the hours, it comes alive with rotating obelisks and jewelled pineapples. On his death, the house was bequeathed to the National Trust. As well as the house itself, visitors can walk the extensive grounds, and visit the Lode Mill, a working mill rebuilt in the 18th century. Converted in 1900 to grind coprolites, it has now been converted back to grind flour. The entrance is off the main B1102 road on the Cambridge side of the village of Lode. There is a series of car parks, with disabled parking closest to the modern entrance buildings. These include a large cafe and a shop, which also sells plants. A small cabin holds second hand books, also for sale. The cafe - one of the largest on the NT estate - serves hot and cold meals as well as the cakes the Trust is known for.

Anglesey Abbey is a stunning place. I offen go for a walk around the gardens…read more The mill is fully working and produces very good brown flour, which i use for making bread. The gardens have many hidding places for the children to explore. The house is lovely and i would recomend watching the clock strike its magical. The resturant is good serving meal, snacks and drinks.

Fantastic dishes and wine selection. Service was quick and polite. Would definitely go back again…read more Listed as fast food but really a restaurant!

When I was a lad it was a wonderful library. Up the enormous spiral stair to the marvellously musty…read morebooks. Biggles, William, Doctor Dolittle, everything a boy could wish for! No idea what it is used for now. From the Rothwell Town site: One such building is the delightful MARKET HOUSE on Market Hill, designed by William Grumbold for the somewhat eccentric Sir Thomas Tresham (1545-1605) who was also known as Thomas the Builder because of his passion for strange and unusual buildings. As a Catholic at a time of religious persecution, he was to spend long periods in prison for his beliefs. Unable to openly practice his faith, he encoded symbols of it into his buildings. It is no coincidence that Market House is cross shaped. Tresham gifted the building to the town, of which he was Lord of the Manor, but although work started in 1577 it would be 300 years before it was finished by local architect J A Gotch.

Let's be honest here, this is not the world's largest museum - not by a long way. And set just off…read morethe A10 in the middle of some fenland opposite a tip, the location is not great, either. But, on a sunny day with two kids in tow and a picnic, a visit here was a pleasant way to spend a morning. The young visitors were not overly bothered about the abbey itself - what got them excited was the play area (basically an old tractor and a wooden horse beside some picnic tables) and, bizarrely, the 1940s house (This is so much nicer than our house !). You could come here as an adult on your own, wander round for half an hour and think Is that it ?, but there are enough things here to keep little minds (say, from age five to 10) interested and excited for quite a while; old farm machinery, recreated Village Store, blacksmith's and cooperage with audio commentary, allotment.

The English Heritage Day during the summer was great! My kids loved the 1940's house, bizarrely…read morethey were most interested in the laundry room. My favourite was the Bowyer from Kentwell Hall who showed us how to make an arrow, using all the traditional methods, I found this fascinating. They also have a skip full of compost from the nearby recycling centre, it's free but you need to take your own bags.

This is an English Heritage place. We went here when we went to Duxford and thought we might pop in…read moreon the way back. It wasn't really that easy to find, and it was very small. All that was there was a derilect building, that anyone could walk into (and obviously had). There was a notice on the wall explaining what it was and that was it. The kids were not impressed. I think we were there for all of 10 minutes. Don't bother to make a special trip here its not worth it.

The Tree Cathedral is another hidden gem of Milton Keynes. I walked in the area back in March when…read morethe trees were all bare but even then it looked insanely cool. I've looked up photos of the tree cathedral in full bloom and it's just beautiful. Constructed in 1986 to look like Norwich Cathedral, I'm sure it's a great spot for small ceremonies. It's divided into various sections all meticulously planned which you can read about on the plaque right in front of the cathedral. It has a nice stone path down the center for easy navigation. Upon reading a bit more on the Tree Cathedral when I got home - you can now scatter ashes there. Peaceful and creepy at the same time. The Tree Cathedral can be found opposite of Willen Lake.

Knebworth house, gardens and park is a brilliant family day out. The grounds are huge, the gardens…read moreare interesting, and the house is beautiful. You can park the car by the house and gardens, and also at the bottom of the park. For the kids, there is a huge adventure playground (best to do this on the way out as it's right at the bottom of the park, miles from the house and gardens), which has a good range of play equipment for pretty much any age range. In the summer they have a free bouncy castle too. The gardens are seperated into different areas, and it is all very well signposted so you won't get lost. The dinosaur garden is really good, and the kitchen garden smells heavenly in the right seasons. There is a fun maze too. The house itself is really beautiful, and you can pay extra to have tours. I could go on forever explaining everything here, but I won't. Rest assured it is well worth the entrance fee. The cafe is really expensive so take a picnic!

This is the kind of place that is run by James-May-type paunchy, middle-aged men who sit around in…read moregrubby overalls drinky milky tea getting excited by things that produce lots of noise and steam - and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that ! It's best to visit when the museum is "in steam", i.e. with the various machines actually working. My 2 1/2 year-old son was very keen on the various mechanical objects, including a 1940s steam car which turned up. Probably not suitable for girly girls who like ponies and ballet and with some very hot surfaces around you need to keep a close eye on young ones. The site used to be the sewage pumping station for Cambridge (!) and there is some surprisingly interesting information on the history of sewerage in Cambridge (true !).

It is a useful place to visit for those who have an interest in technology or/and history. There…read moreyou can find main engines, gas engines, electric room, boiler house and more other interesting things to be seen. Personally I think this museum is extremely helpful for students/shool children as there they have an oportunity to visualise what have learnt in classroom, to have a clearer picture how different engines are working , ecc. It is very helpful for writing projects on this topic. Their admission fee is very reasonable -£3 per adult, children under seven go for free. Sometimes fee may vary depending on event.

The Estate: Elton Hall lies at the heart of a 3,800 acre Estate made up of a mixture of property…read moreincluding farms, houses and cottages, commercial property and woodland. The Estate straddles the Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire borders and is well located for access from the East and West along the A14 and A47 and is 86 miles North of London, just off the A1.

.This historic estate holds antique fairs and other events I have been several times and always…read moreenjoyed myself.