The Pavilion

The Pavilion sits quietly on the edge of Cambridge's green spaces, a proper refuge if you're after a break from the city's tourist crush. It's a nature reserve where the fens open up - open water, reedbeds, the lot - and you can actually hear yourself think. The main building serves as an observation point, giving you decent views across the wetland without having to wade through mud in your good shoes.

Birdwatchers will absolutely get their money's worth here. Winter brings in visiting ducks and geese; spring is when the whole place comes alive with warblers and breeding birds. You don't need to be twitching binoculars to enjoy it, though - families find it manageable because there are defined paths and you're not scrambling through brambles for two hours.

Allow an hour, maybe ninety minutes if you're taking it slowly with kids or stopping to identify birds. The reserve is accessible from Cambridge without needing a car, which makes it a solid addition to a base at Shepreth Mill Caravan & Camping Holiday Park, just a few miles out. That location gives you flexibility - Cambridge for the colleges and colleges and pubs on one day, then quieter nature stuff like The Pavilion when you want to dial it back.

It's free to visit, which removes the sting from a rainy afternoon when you can't face the Fitzwilliam Museum again. Not spectacular, but genuinely useful for what it is.