Cambridgeshire feeds a good part of the country. The black peat of the Fens grows celery, potatoes and salad crops on an industrial scale, the chalk south is full of village dining pubs, and the county’s brewers have been at it since the 1790s. The catch is that the best of it is spread thinly: a bakery in Harston, a micropub on Forehill in Ely, a family brewery on the Nene at Wisbech.
This is our starting guide to the county’s food and drink. It picks fourteen places across Cambridge and the south, Huntingdonshire and the Fens, mixing a two star restaurant with farm shops, markets, a gin distillery and two breweries. Later guides go deeper on restaurants, pubs, afternoon tea, farm shops and producers. Everything here was checked in November 2026.
Details were accurate at the time of research in November 2026. Opening times, menus and prices change, so please check each venue’s own website before you travel.
Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire
The south of the county is where the money and the restaurant names are, but the most interesting food is often in the villages just outside the city. Harston, Barton, Grantchester and Little Wilbraham are all within a short drive or bus ride of the centre.
Fitzbillies, Cambridge and Harston
Indoor activity
- A Cambridge bakery and café founded by brothers Ernest and Arthur Mason after the First World War, best known for its very sticky Chelsea buns
- The original shop is on Trumpington Street, with further cafés on Bridge Street and King’s Parade
- The business went bust in 2011 and was rescued by Alison Wright and Tim Hayward, who still run it and celebrated its centenary with a book in 2020
- In 2026 Fitzbillies opened a bakery and coffee shop at 59 to 61 High Street, Harston, where you can watch the bakers at work
- The Harston coffee shop seats more than 40 inside and out, has parking, is dog friendly and serves brunch, lunch, afternoon tea and takeaway picnics
- Harston opening hours are 7:30am to 5:30pm on weekdays, 8am to 5:30pm on Saturday and 8am to 5pm on Sunday
Address: Trumpington Street, Cambridge (original shop); 59 to 61 High Street, Harston CB22 7PZ (bakery and coffee shop)
Website: fitzbillies.com
Phone: 01223 211150 (Harston)
How to book: No booking for the cafés; afternoon tea and cakes can be ordered through the website
A Fitzbillies Chelsea bun is the one thing almost every Cambridge student, past or present, can agree on. The city shops get very busy at weekends, especially King’s Parade, so the new Harston site is the calmer way to get one, with a car park and space for a dog under the table. It sits on the A10 south of the city, which makes it an easy stop on the way to or from the M11. If you arrive early you are in the same building as the bakers. Buy more buns than you think you need; they keep for a day and reheat well.
Midsummer House, Cambridge
Indoor activity
- A restaurant with two Michelin stars in a house on Midsummer Common beside the Cam
- Diners choose between three set tasting menus, named Solstice, Corpus and Trinity
- It opens Wednesday to Saturday for lunch and dinner, with last dinner reservations at 9pm
- Bookings open three months ahead at 9am on the first of each month, and there is an email waiting list when dates are full
- In December 2026 it also opens for Sunday lunch on 6, 13 and 20 December
- The restaurant closes for its winter break from 24 December 2026 to 16 January 2027
- There is no parking on the common; the restaurant suggests Aylestone Road, CB4 1HF, as the closest parking
- Prices are not published on the pages we read, but expect a bill in line with two stars
Address: Midsummer Common, Cambridge CB4 1HA
Website: midsummerhouse.co.uk
Phone: 01223 369299 (Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm)
How to book: Online through OpenTable from the restaurant’s website, or by phone
We covered Midsummer House in our romantic guide as a place for a big occasion, but it belongs here for a simpler reason: it is the benchmark for cooking in the county. Go at lunchtime if you want to walk the common and see the college boathouses in daylight. The non-alcoholic pairing gets good reviews if someone is driving. Set a reminder for the first of the month if you are aiming at a particular date.
Cambridge Distillery, Grantchester
Indoor and outdoor
- A small gin distillery on the High Street in Grantchester, a short walk from Grantchester Meadows and the river
- Its flagship is Cambridge Dry Gin, and the team also runs the Cambridge Gin Laboratory in the city centre
- A two hour Distillery Tasting Tour runs every Saturday at 2pm from June 2026, with a welcome G&T, a walk through the meadows if the weather allows, a botanicals tasting and the chance to design your own gin recipe
- Christmas wreath making evenings run on Friday 27 November and Friday 4 December 2026, and a gin and cheese evening pairs five gins with five cheeses on Friday 18 December
- The listed experiences are £60 per person and must be booked online
- The shop opens Monday to Friday 11am to 5pm and Saturday 11am to 3pm, and is closed on Sunday
- Visitors must be 18 or over to taste, and staff ask for ID from anyone who looks under 25
- Private hire is available at the distillery for groups of up to 20
Address: 20 High Street, Grantchester, Cambridge CB3 9NF
Website: cambridgedistillery.co.uk
Phone: 01223 751146 (option 2)
How to book: Online through the distillery’s events page; gift vouchers are valid for six months
Grantchester already pulls people out of Cambridge for the meadows walk and the tea garden, and the distillery gives the village a reason to stay into the late afternoon. The Saturday tour suits a group of friends better than a quick visit, since it takes two hours and ends with a gin you have designed yourself. If you walk out from the city along the river path, you also solve the problem of who drives home. The shop is the place for a bottle to take away. Book the December evenings early, as numbers are small.
Burwash Larder, Barton
Indoor activity
- A farm shop and deli in a converted barn at Burwash Manor, a working farm in Barton on the western edge of Cambridge
- It started in 1985 as a roadside table selling surplus farm produce with an honesty box, run by farmer Mike Radford
- The deli counter carries around 70 artisan cheeses, alongside cake and lunch counters
- Family butcher Leech and Sons trades inside the shop and sells local meat, including beef from the farm
- The working farm behind the shop is organic, with about 400 acres of mixed arable and livestock
- Opening hours are 9am to 5pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 5pm on Sunday
- Burwash Manor also has a cluster of independent shops in its old farm buildings, so it is easy to make a morning of it
Address: Burwash Manor, New Road, Barton, Cambridge CB23 7EY
Website: burwashlarder.com
Phone: 01223 264600
How to book: No booking needed
Burwash is the farm shop Cambridge people use when they want a proper cheese counter without driving far. Speciality Food magazine named it among the county’s best farm shops in August 2026, and it is easy to see why: the cheese selection is serious, the butcher knows where the meat comes from, and the produce is seasonal rather than flown in. It sits on New Road in Barton, a short drive from the city centre. Weekend mornings are the busy time. Come midweek if you want time to talk to the butcher.
The Hole in the Wall, Little Wilbraham
Indoor activity
- A 15th century village pub in Little Wilbraham, east of Cambridge, run as a dining pub with a beamed lounge bar, a snug and a restaurant
- The name comes from a hole in the wall, long since filled in, where farm workers handed in empty jugs on the way to the fields and collected them full on the way home
- The menu is modern British gastro pub cooking under executive chef Walter Dcunha
- One changing real ale is kept on, and the pub holds a Cask Marque rating
- There is a large outdoor seating area for summer
- Reviews on OpenTable run right up to late October 2026 and rate it 4.7 from nearly 500 diners
Address: 2 High Street, Little Wilbraham, Cambridge CB21 5JY
Website: holeinthewallcambridge.co.uk
How to book: Online through OpenTable
The Hole in the Wall is the kind of pub that people drive out from Cambridge for on a Sunday, and it has been that way for years. It is a proper old building, low and beamed, so the restaurant feels snug in winter rather than formal. Little Wilbraham is a small village with not much else, which keeps the place feeling like a local even when it is full of diners. It is a short drive east of Cambridge, close to the A11. Book for weekends.
Willow Grange Farm, Chittering
Indoor and outdoor
- A family run working farm on the A10 at Chittering, halfway between Cambridge and Ely, with a farm shop, butchery, deli and café
- The farm rears its own Hereford cattle, and the beef is sold in the butchery and used on the café menu
- The café and farm shop open Tuesday to Sunday from 9am to 4pm
- It won a 2026 Velvet Food and Drink Award, and Speciality Food magazine listed it among Cambridgeshire’s best farm shops in August 2026
- Dogs are welcome in both the farm shop and the café
- Farmhouse Sunday roasts are served on selected Sundays, including 8 November 2026
- A Christmas Market and late night shopping evening, with a burger night, runs on Thursday 26 November 2026 from 4pm to 9pm, with makers’ stalls under cover in the old piggery
- Christmas meat orders, including turkey, game and beef joints, are taken in advance
Address: Willow Grange Farm, Ely Road, Chittering, Cambridge CB25 9PL
Website: willowgrangefarm.co.uk
Phone: 01223 481183
How to book: Christmas orders and events through the website; no booking needed for the café
Willow Grange is where the south of the county starts to turn into the Fens, and the flat fields around the farm show it. It works well as a breakfast stop on the A10 if you are heading up to Ely, and the café menu makes a point of using the farm’s own beef. The old farm buildings give it more character than a roadside shop. In late November the Christmas market brings in local makers and a late opening. Order your Christmas meat early, as popular joints go first.
Huntingdonshire and the Great Ouse Valley
Huntingdonshire is quieter about its food than Cambridge, but the market towns along the Great Ouse have strong traditions. St Ives has held markets since the Middle Ages, and the farms on the clay north of Huntingdon still sell what they rear.
St Ives Farmers’ Market
Outdoor activity
- A farmers’ market run by St Ives Town Council on the first and third Saturday of every month, from 8:30am to 2pm
- St Ives Town Council, which runs it, holds it on Sheep Market in the town centre
- Stalls are set out in a horseshoe, a layout chosen after a trial at the market’s tenth birthday in 2013
- It has been a finalist for FARMA Farmers’ Market of the Year three years running, according to the town council
- Producers sell meat, vegetables, baked goods and other food from farms and small businesses in the area
- The ordinary St Ives street market runs on Market Hill every Monday from 8:30am to 3pm and every Friday from 8:30am to 2pm
- Globe Place and Cattle Market car parks are a few minutes’ walk from the centre
Address: Sheep Market, St Ives
Website: stivestowncouncil.gov.uk and huntingdonshire.gov.uk/markets
Phone: 01480 388927 (St Ives Town Council)
How to book: No booking needed
St Ives is a market town in the proper sense, and on farmers’ market Saturdays the centre is at its best. Go early for the meat and the bread, then walk down to the river and the 15th century bridge with its chapel in the middle. The Monday market is bigger and more general, so pick a Saturday if food is the point of the trip. Parking fills up by mid morning. If you are coming from Cambridge, the Guided Busway runs to St Ives.
The Old Bridge, Huntingdon
Indoor activity
- An ivy covered hotel in an 18th century former bank on the Great Ouse at the southern edge of Huntingdon, with a restaurant, bar and bottle shop
- The award winning bottle shop has been running since 2008, and the hotel is now part of the Chestnut Group
- An Enomatic machine in the bottle shop lets you taste several wines by the glass before you buy
- A Winter Wine Fair tasting runs on Sunday 29 November 2026 from 2pm, with tickets listed at £40
- A Call My Bluff blind tasting dinner with paired courses runs on 13 November 2026
- The kitchen is open daily, with breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea at 2:30pm or 4:30pm and dinner until 8:30pm
- The hotel closed for a short refresh in May 2026 and reopened with new kitchen staff
Address: 1 High Street, Huntingdon PE29 3TQ
Website: theoldbridgehuntingdon.com
How to book: Online through the hotel’s website for tables and events
Most people know The Old Bridge as a place to stay or eat, and we have covered it before for both. The reason to come for this guide is the wine. The bottle shop has won awards and has a loyal following among local wine buyers, and the tasting machine means you can try before committing to a case. The tasting events are the easiest way in if you know little about wine, as they are relaxed and come with food. Huntingdon station is within walking distance, so you do not have to drive.
Johnsons of Old Hurst
Indoor and outdoor
- A family farm at Old Hurst, north of St Ives, with a farm shop and butchers, a tea room, a steakhouse and a small zoo
- The farm has used traditional methods for over a century, and more than 80 per cent of the meat in the butchery comes from its own animals
- Ostrich and other exotic meats are sold alongside the farm’s own, subject to availability
- The zoo and tropical house, open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 4:30pm, keeps crocodiles among more than 100 animals
- The farm shop and butchers open Tuesday to Friday 9am to 6pm, Saturday 9am to 4pm and Sunday 10am to 4pm
- The steakhouse serves farm reared meat from Wednesday to Saturday, noon to 8:30pm, and Sunday lunch from noon to 4pm
- The zoo is a separate ticket, paid at the gate by cash or card, at £6.50 for adults, £5.50 for children and free for children aged 3 and under
- A Christmas Market is held on 28 and 29 November 2026, and the farm says wellies are essential in winter
Address: Church Street, Old Hurst, Huntingdon PE28 3AF
Website: johnsonsofoldhurst.co.uk
How to book: No booking for the farm shop or zoo; contact the steakhouse for tables
Johnsons is one of the odder food days out in the county, and that is a compliment. You can buy a Sunday joint, eat a steak from the same farm and look at crocodiles in one trip. The butchery is the real draw for locals, with meat that has barely travelled. Children tend to head straight for the animals, so the zoo ticket makes the shopping easier. The farm sits on a quiet lane between St Ives and Ramsey, so use the full address in a sat nav.
Ely, the Fens and Peterborough
The Fens are where Cambridgeshire’s food actually grows. The flat black fields around Ely, Chatteris and March grow vegetables on a scale few other parts of England match, and Wisbech and Peterborough are home to two of the region’s best known breweries.
Elgood’s Brewery, Wisbech
Indoor and outdoor
- A family brewery on North Brink in Wisbech, beside the River Nene, where beer has been brewed since 1795 and the Elgood family has been in charge since 1878
- Regular beers include Cambridge Bitter, Cambridge Gold, Black Dog dark mild and Plum Porter
- The Hop Rooms tap room and the four acre gardens open to the public only on scheduled open days, so check the events calendar first
- Coming dates include live music on 19 November and 17 December 2026, Christmas wreath workshops from 26 to 28 November, and a free Christmas Open Day on Saturday 5 December 2026 from 11am to 4pm
- The brewery shop and reception sell beer to take away, Monday to Thursday 9am to 5pm and Friday 9am to 3pm
- Group tours of the working brewery are arranged directly with the brewery
Address: 72 North Brink, Wisbech PE13 1LW
Website: elgoods-brewery.co.uk
Phone: 01945 583160
How to book: Events and group tours through the brewery’s website or by phone
North Brink is Wisbech’s grand Georgian riverside street, and Elgood’s is very much part of it, a working brewery in the middle of a row of merchants’ houses facing the Nene. In our gardens guide we covered the grounds, which were once part of the Peckover House garden next door. This time the point is the beer. A pint of Cambridge Bitter at an open day, with the brewery behind you, is about as local as Fenland drinking gets. The Christmas Open Day is free and the best chance this winter to look round. Pair it with Peckover House, which has its own Christmas opening in December.
Fenland Celery
Indoor and outdoor
- Fenland Celery has Protected Geographical Indication status, first registered in 2013, which means only celery grown on specific black peat soils of the Fens can use the name
- The protected area covers parishes including Chatteris, March, Littleport, Ely, Manea, Wimblington, Soham, Ramsey, Thorney and Wisbech St Mary
- Growers bank soil up around the stalks four or five times, which keeps them white at the base and protects them from frost
- Only three old varieties are allowed: Hopkins Fenlander, New Dwarf White and Ely White, the last two bred locally and Hopkins Fenlander bred by Stanley Hopkins of Stretham
- It is planted in June or July and harvested by hand from September to December, so it is a winter vegetable rather than a summer salad
- The flavour is sweeter and nuttier than ordinary celery, with a hint of aniseed
- Tesco sells Fenland Celery while it is in season
- It is worth asking at Fen farm shops and the fruit and veg stalls on the Friday markets in Chatteris and Whittlesey whether they have loose heads in season
Website: gov.uk/protected-food-drink-names/fenland-celery
How to book: No booking; buy it in season from November to early December
Fenland celery is the county’s answer to Stilton or Melton Mowbray pies, a food protected by name and tied to one kind of soil. It looks nothing like the green supermarket stick, with a pale, dirty, heavy head that has been earthed up all summer. It is at its best in late November and December, when it is properly in season. Drive the straight droves between Chatteris and Ely in autumn and you will see the ridged rows in the black fields. Buy it whole and use the leaves too.
Ely Farmers’ Market
Outdoor activity
- A farmers’ market on Ely’s Market Place on the second and fourth Saturday of every month, from 8:30am
- Stalls sell local fruit and vegetables, meat, cakes, pies, pastries, preserves, flowers, plants, shrubs and herbs
- The Craft, Food and Vintage Market trades every Saturday from 8:30am to 3:30pm, with antiques, books, crafts, coffee and street food
- The Thursday Charter Market runs from 8:30am to 3:30pm, and Ely has had a market for more than 800 years
- The markets are run by East Cambridgeshire District Council, and parking in Ely is free, with Forehill, St Mary’s Street and Barton Road car parks a short walk away
- Ely station is a 15 minute walk uphill from the Market Place, with direct trains from Cambridge, Peterborough, King’s Lynn and Norwich
Address: Market Place, Ely
Website: elymarkets.co.uk
Phone: 01353 665555
How to book: No booking needed
Ely’s Market Place sits right under the cathedral, so even a quick shop comes with the view of the west tower. The farmers’ market is the one to aim for if you want produce from the surrounding Fens rather than general stalls. Come early in winter, as the best meat sells first and the square is exposed when the wind comes across the fen. Afterwards, the cathedral, Oliver Cromwell’s House and the riverside are all a few minutes’ walk away. Check the market website before travelling, as the farmers’ market Saturdays shift with the calendar.
The Drayman’s Son and Three Blind Mice, Ely
Indoor activity
- A micropub in a former shop on Forehill in Ely, owned since 2018 by the team behind Three Blind Mice, a brewery at Little Downham just outside the city
- Three Blind Mice was founded in 2014 and brews on a 16 barrel plant at Black Bank Business Park
- The pub keeps up to 14 beers, usually four on cask and ten on keg
- Real ciders are a speciality, many of them from local makers
- Food is pub snacks rather than meals: pork pies, scotch eggs, platters and rolls
- Drinks are usually brought to your table, and the walls are covered in old railway and enamel signs
- It opens from 3pm Monday to Wednesday, from noon Thursday to Saturday and from 1pm on Sunday
- The local CAMRA branch named it Pub of the Year and Cider Pub of the Year in 2025
Address: 29A Forehill, Ely CB7 4AA
Website: camra.org.uk (listing for Drayman’s Son)
How to book: No booking needed
The Drayman’s Son is the best way to try Ely’s own beer, a few doors from the Market Place and five minutes from the cathedral. It is small, so on a Friday evening you may be squeezed in with strangers, which is half the point of a micropub. Three Blind Mice beers also turn up in other pubs around the city. A pork pie and a pint after the farmers’ market makes a good Saturday lunch. Neither the pub nor the brewery publishes much online, so the CAMRA listing is the most reliable place to check opening times.
The Brewery Tap and Oakham Ales, Peterborough
Indoor activity
- A large city centre pub on Westgate, Peterborough, opened in 1998 in a former employment exchange as the tap for Oakham Ales
- A small brew plant sits behind a glass wall in the bar, and Oakham brought it back into use in 2023 as Westgate Small Batch for limited edition one off beers
- Oakham started in Rutland in 1993 and moved to Peterborough in 1998; its main brewery has been at Woodston since 2006
- Regular beers include Citra, Bishops Farewell, Inferno and JHB, which won at the Great British Beer Festival in 2001
- The kitchen serves Thai food at lunch and in the evening every day
- The pub stays open until 2am on Friday and Saturday nights
Address: 80 Westgate, Peterborough PE1 2AA
Website: oakhamales.com
Phone: 01733 358500
How to book: Call the pub for tables and the function room
The Brewery Tap is one of the best known pubs in Peterborough and an odd mix in a good way: a big brewery bar with hoppy pale ales on the bar and a Thai kitchen at the back. Citra is the beer most people know Oakham for, and this is the place to drink it fresh. It is a short walk from Peterborough station and next to the Queensgate centre, which makes it an easy stop between trains. Weekend nights are loud and late, so come at lunchtime or early evening if you want to eat in peace. The cathedral is an easy walk away.
Seasonal Highlights
Spring: Local asparagus season starts in late April, so look for it at the St Ives and Ely farmers’ markets and in farm shops, as the stalls fill up again after the thin winter months. Cambridge Distillery’s two hour tasting tours have run every Saturday afternoon since June 2026.
Summer: Fitzbillies Harston’s outdoor tables and takeaway picnics come into their own in June and July, and Elgood’s opens its tap room and gardens on scheduled open days. The Hole in the Wall’s outdoor seating is the place for a long lunch in August.
Autumn: The Fenland celery harvest starts in September and runs to December, with the protected celery in shops from around November. The Old Bridge runs its Call My Bluff tasting dinner on 13 November 2026.
Winter: Johnsons of Old Hurst holds its Christmas Market on 28 and 29 November, Willow Grange’s Christmas market is on 26 November, The Old Bridge Winter Wine Fair is on 29 November and Elgood’s free Christmas Open Day is on 5 December 2026. Midsummer House adds Sunday lunches on 6, 13 and 20 December, then closes from 24 December to 16 January 2027.
A Note From Inside Cambridge
This guide is a first taste rather than a full menu. Over the coming weeks we will go deeper into the county’s restaurants, pubs, afternoon teas, farm shops, producers, breweries and farmers’ markets, and some of these places will turn up again there with more detail.
If your favourite café, pub or farm shop is missing, or something here has changed, tell us. We would rather hear it from you than find out the hard way on a wet Saturday in Wisbech.
Before You Go
- Book Midsummer House, The Hole in the Wall and The Old Bridge events well ahead, especially for Friday, Saturday and the run up to Christmas
- Many farm shops and pubs close on Mondays, and some on Tuesdays, so check opening days before a long drive
- Farmers’ markets run on set Saturdays only: first and third in St Ives, second and fourth in Ely
- Fenland celery is only in season from autumn to early December, so do not expect to find it in spring
- Elgood’s tap room and gardens open only on scheduled open days; the shop is open on weekdays for takeaway beer
- Cambridge City Council plans to rebuild the Market Square and move the market to temporary stalls in nearby streets, including King’s Parade, Petty Cury and Sidney Street, while the work happens. Full Council decides on 26 November 2026, and the council says the market would move in March 2027 if the plans are approved, so check cambridge.gov.uk for the latest before you visit
- Order Christmas meat from Willow Grange, Burwash and Johnsons early, as the best joints sell out
- Bring cash as well as cards for farmers’ market stalls and the Johnsons zoo gate
- If you are tasting gin or beer, plan a lift, a taxi or the train: Peterborough, Huntingdon and Ely stations are all within walking distance of entries in this guide
