So much to see, eat and do at annual festival of fun
Travel back in time – from the 70s to the 17th Century – while feasting on foodie delights and watching family film at this year’s Cherry Hinton Festival.
The festival runs from 15 to 22 September, with the main day, festival day, on the 22nd. First up though, Cambridge Film Festival and Thirsty’s biergarten combine to get the festival off to a cracking start at St Andrew’s Church on the 15th, with beer, food and film. There’s duck decorating from 3 to 5pm, then at 7pm Paddington 2 gets a screening at the church.
After the film there’s late night comedy with Chris Norton Walker, David McHardy and Ruth Wright, with host The Mighty Bim, and to complement the biergarten, which runs from 3 to 11pm, there’s food from Honest Burgers and Geurilla Kitchen. A duck race, featuring the decorated ducks, is on the 16th, opposite the Robin Hood pub, from 1.30pm.
Festival Day, on the recreation ground on 22 September, features a time travellers theme that forms the backbone of the event, with a 100-seat planetarium. It’s the biggest mobile planetarium in the country, from the University of Hertfordsire’s Bayfordbury Observatory.
There are several sessions throughout the day, and once you’ve ben to the stars, you can experience the feeling of weightlessness in a gyroscope, go prehistoric and meet dinosaurs, including an animatronic creature. If that’s not enough, zoom into the future and get a selfie with Stormtroopers or the Back-to-the-Future DeLorean car.
Living history group 17th Century Life and Times will carry out pike drills, musket demonstrations and give you the chance to go to sword school. And, if that’s not enough (and Edition’s not sure if this is strictly in the past or the future) there will be Daleks on site too.
To keep you going on festival day, sample Venezuelan arepas – made from grilled cornflour bread that’s split open and stuffed with many – at Arepa’s Station, or try Kura Kura’s mouthwatering Sri Lankan and southern Indian street food, including curries and roti. StrEATfresh serve up succulent veggie and vegan fast food, Warm and Toastie grill cheese in many ways, while Caffe Mobile and Banquet Inn Bar serve up delicious coffee and beer respectively.
Between the weekend festivies at either end of the festival, there’s a host of community activities, from special exercise classes to nature walks and a quiz night.
