Town, Gown & Country Show

The free show, which brings the country to the city for one weekend each summer, drawing tens of thousands of people to Parker’s Piece, has partnered up with the University for this year’s event.

Alongside the normal town and country fare, visitors will be able to sample a number of University activities, including braid and fossil making, painting and “test your strength“ activities, the opportunity to meet some colourful figures from the University’s past, and a live performance from the Cambridge University Ceilidh Band on Sunday afternoon.

There will also be the opportunity for members of the public to take part in the Letters to the Future project, writing messages to their counterparts 100 years from now, which will then be stored in the University Library in 2009.

Other entertainment taking place throughout the weekend will include birds of prey and flying displays, a medieval re-enactment village, The Sheep Show, the magnificent and increasingly rare Suffolk Punch horses, donkey rides, the Companion Dog Show, as well as lifestyle and food hall stands. There will also be entertainment for children, including bouncy castles and a fairground (charges apply).

Charlie Owen of show organisers Oakleigh Fairs says, “We are so pleased that the University is supporting us – it will bring an interesting and unusual twist to the show this year – whether it be Tudor storytellers giving the real history of the Town & Gown, the fascinating Cabinet of Curiosities or even the chance to try your hand at making your own fossil, all will enable the people of Cambridge to see what goes on behind the scenes within the various Departments – but right in the heart of the City.”

In addition to the Town, Gown & Country Show, the University hosts a wide range of public activities, including the Cambridge Science Festival, Open Cambridge, the Bridge the Gap Charity Walk and the Festival of Ideas. For more information visit https://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/communications/community/.