Day 58: Cows about Cambridge

Between 28th June and 4th September 2021, residents & tourists could enjoy a bit of cow-spotting around the city of Cambridge! Cows are a familiar sight in public spaces such as Midsummer, Stourbridge and Coldham’s Commons and the meadows in Grantchester and Newnham. However, the Cows about Cambridge didn’t need a grass diet (with some obvious advantages!) This was a sculpture trail around the streets, parks and some indoor spaces around our beautiful city.

There is a serious side to the art project. Cows about Cambridge has been raising money for the children’s charity, Break. They’ve done this by producing a fundraising pack with sponsored event ideas, setting up a text-to-donate facility, and, perhaps most excitingly of all, they’ve organised a charity auction! On 23rd September 2021 at 7pm, 43 cow sculptures will be auctioned to raise money to support vulnerable young people and families across Cambridgeshire.

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Day 57: VIP Matchday Experience

In 31 years supporting the mighty Cambridge United, I’ve travelled to games on foot, by bike, car, train and coach. Never did I expect to be chauffeur-driven to the Abbey Stadium!

This summer, A2B Taxicabs – based in Ely – partnered with the club, sponsoring the largest hospitality suite and providing VIP matchdays with door-to-door travel. Wanting to offer some extra joy to fans who were returning to live matches, A2B are running competitions throughout the season. I entered the first and was fortunate enough to win.

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Food: Bill’s Cambridge

Spring is always a busy time for our household with all four birthdays falling in a seven-week period, starting with mine in April. This year we also had a wonderful family wedding in May, so it really has been a time of non-stop celebrations! 🙂 

Also with an April birthday, twelve days before mine, is my Mum. When I was invited to enjoy a meal at Bill’s restaurant in Cambridge, it was the perfect opportunity to take my foot off the pedal for a while and enjoy a joint birthday lunch.

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Food: The Ivy Cambridge Brasserie

The Ivy. Those two words conjure up images of the rich & famous, of opulence, glamour, a place to see and be seen. In 2017, The Ivy in Covent Garden celebrated its centenary; having begun life in 1917 as a modest café, it quickly gained in popularity becoming an iconic London destination, known the world over.

My home city of Cambridge is now home to The Ivy Brasserie; it’s one of the newest restaurants to join The Ivy Collection. Opening day was Wednesday 14th March 2018, and I was invited to join a Bloggers’ Breakfast that morning. Would The Ivy live up to its reputation?

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Food: Pint Shop

Pint Shop, in the very heart of Cambridge, will soon be celebrating its 4th birthday. Feeling that it would benefit from some sprucing up, the owners not only refreshed the paintwork, but also altered the layout to create two new dining rooms. To celebrate their revamp and new seasonal menu, they held a press & bloggers tasting lunch.

Unable to attend on the day, we were invited to dine on another occasion, and having never experienced their food (but hearing wonderful things about it), we were delighted to accept.

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Day 35: FoodCycle Cambridge

I have vivid memories of being a young girl growing up in the affluent city of Cambridge, not being able to understand why there were so many people sleeping rough, barely surviving. It didn’t seem right or fair, and that helpless feeling stays with me today. That childhood memory, and what I’ve subsequently learned about the plight of the homeless and the disadvantaged, along with an inherent aversion to food waste, compelled me to attend my first FoodCycle session in 2012. 

After a break from volunteering while our children were very young, I rejoined the team in September 2017 for Day 35 of #100DaysNoTV.

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Station Tavern Cambridge

Cambridge Station was built in 1845, when it was located about a mile away from the city centre. Over the next century and a half Cambridge grew massively, until the station and city became one. Over the last few years, the station and its immediate surroundings have been transformed: CB1 is home to new apartments, office blocks, shops, hotels and eateries.

Only in the last few months has the area that greets visitors when they leave the station begun to take real shape. There are some unfinished sections, in particular the taxi rank, but the new businesses are pretty much fully functioning.

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Day 26: Cambridge Wineathlon

I’m not a serious runner but over the last year or so I’ve become more committed, taking part in the Cambridge Race for Life 10k and the Grand East Anglia Run 10k. My Strava app records every run I do, and last November I joined Run Mummy Run (RMR): an online community of mummies who like to run and support others. This group organised last December’s Advent Streak. 🙂 On Day 26 of #100DaysNoTV I ran in my first team event with some RMR girls.

The Cambridge Wineathlon was a not-at-all-serious 10k run through the pretty villages of Foxton, Fowlmere and Newton. I signed up with a couple of RMR girls and our group grew from there. Where’s Wally? is a staple uniform at some local parkruns, so it was the natural choice for the Wineathlon too! Don’t we look good?! 😉

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Day 25: Six New Things

If you’ve been following my #100DaysNoTV project, you’ll know that I like to try new things and have new experiences. And, I can be pretty flexible about when I have my next ‘Day’. So, I have ultimate respect for my blogger friend, Maria Wylie. As of today she’s managed to try something new for 258 consecutive days. Yes, something new every single day!

Maria also challenges friends to complete a week of new things: a monthly Challenge Week. She offers a theme or two to make it easier to think of something cool to do. I took part in the August challenge: Eco-friendliness & Creativity. On Day 25 of #100DaysNoTV I completed a week of new things!

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