Our food and travel writer Mark Heath and his wife Liz visited the Varsity Hotel & Spa in Cambridge for a Friday night stay. Here's what they made of it...
There are, I submit to the house, few finer places in life than a good bar or beer garden, refreshment in hand and conversation flowing, with the sun lightly toasting you from above.
But take that experience and place it on the roof of a luxury hotel, with panoramic views of one of the most historic and beautiful cities in the world, and you're really cooking on super sensory, endorphin-fuelled gas.
Welcome friends, to the Roof Terrace at the Varsity Hotel & Spa. Before we get back to that rather pleasant roof top recline, let's rewind a bit.
We'd arrived in Cambridge a few hours early, comfortable in the knowledge that our room wouldn't be ready but eager to have a mooch around a city we know embarrassingly little about, despite it only being a short drive down the A14.
We were greeted by some incredibly friendly staff - a common theme, as we'll discuss later - who happily took our luggage, arranged for our car to be valet parked (an excellent service for £25 a night) and phoned upstairs to the aforementioned rooftop bar to check it was open when I expressed a desire to visit.
And thus you're all caught up on our adventure to this point, and can once more join us sat in the corner of the bar, bottle of cold Corona in hand, looking out over the attractive old rooftops of Cambridge and feeling rather good about life.
Right, before we move on, let's address the extravagant elephant in the room. The Varsity is expensive - we're talking £7.95 for our 330ml bottle of Corona, around £8.50 for a small glass of wine, £13.50 for their cheapest cocktail.
By any scale, that's costly. But you're not just paying for the drink itself here, the vista/experience is also part of the price - a view-added tax, if you will. At least that's how I chose to look at it. You may disagree, of course.
Anyway, onwards. A little buzzing off our high-altitude beer, we resolved to venture forth into the city in search of lunch and entertainment.
We didn't have to wander far. If you turn left out of the doors of the hotel, and follow the building round past the entrance to the River Bar Steakhouse - more on that to come, too - you find yourself on a little wooden walkway next to the River Cam which is, frankly, lovely.
After a short while watching the punt-packed waterway in the hope that someone would fall in, we found ourselves in a little square surrounded by eateries, and had an excellent lunch in the Thaikhun Thai restaurant while we planned our next move.
That next move turned out to be a nice stroll around Cambridge, with particular highlights being Hardy's Sweet Shop - my oh my, what a selection of sweets - Ben's Cookies and a necessary refreshment at The Pickerel Inn, the city's oldest pub, which dates back to 1608.
After which the hour of check-in had arrived, and we returned to the hotel to inspect our quarters. Home for the night was a Graduate Double Room, and it was a nice touch to find our luggage waiting for us therein.
Our room was the hotel's cheapest, which you can get for around £185 a night. Small but well-appointed, it boasted a nice bathroom with a walk-in monsoon shower, a good-size smart TV - if that's important to you - and a posh hand-held info tablet, offering all sorts of knowledge about the hotel and its offerings.
One of those offerings which we were keen to check out was the spa, which guests can use as part of their stay. Treatments are extra, of course, but you can avail yourself of the impressive gym and sauna/steam room/jacuzzi - and that we most certainly did.
You get robes and slippers at reception, head to the changing area, and off you go. We spent an enjoyable hour steaming, wallowing, and watching the world go by from the large window located next to the jacuzzi.
From there it was back to the room, whence we chucked on our glad rags and headed for our dinner destination, the River Bar Steakhouse.
The Varsity has two restaurants - Six Brasserie, so named because it's on the sixth floor, and the River Bar which, as you may have guessed, is located right next to the river, with a separate entrance as mentioned earlier.
We started with a glass of prosecco before being shown to our table, which afforded us fantastic views of the Cam, a host of sadly well-balanced punters and Magdalene College across the river. That's certainly the closest I'll ever get to going to university in Cambridge.
It was a truly lovely spot for dinner, making it hard to concentrate on the menu as we picked our weapons. But, because we're professionals, we somehow managed.
For starters, Liz went with the garlic butter prawns (£10.50), and I with the homemade warm scotch egg (£9.50). This was a tale of two starters - mine was very pleasant, a runny egg teaming well with the warm, meaty coat around it, while the lashings of smoked garlic mayonnaise added to the eating.
Unfortunately, Liz's prawns were fairly underwhelming. We'd envisioned some big, shell-on prawns landing on the table, but instead she was presented with some rather more diminutive naked crustaceans on a single skewer, with not much else going on.
Anyway, onto the mains. Here we both went big, pushing the boat out for the surf and turf - an 8oz fillet steak, kept company by half a fire-roasted lobster, served with chips and lemon, garlic and parsley butter, for the eyebrow raising price of £56 each.
It looked great, both our chunky steaks were well-cooked to medium rare, tasted delicious and the chips were fantastic. The lobsters were a little overcooked, but it was still, a good, hefty, indulgent feed.
By this time we were approaching terminal mass, so decided to share a dessert. Thus, a classic sticky toffee pudding was duly devoured - tasty, rich and a decent end to our meal.
Because of the view we were enjoying, we opted to cap the night with a cocktail from the bar's impressive menu, which even features a handy flavour map to help you pick your poison.
Prices start from £8.50 and ascend to £13.50, which was what our espresso martinis cost. They were excellent though, and made for a nice end to the experience as we sat chatting, sipping and people watching from our lofty perches.
Overall, I'd say the meal didn't quite live up to its hefty price point. But, again, you could argue that you also pay for the view and the experience, and our seat for dinner was among the best we've ever had.
A special note too, for our hosts. The maitre'd, whose name I foolishly forgot to note, was excellent, as was our waitress Tashi - she made us feel comfortable and well-looked after, as well as getting us laughing more than once. Superb service.
With that, then, we retired to our lodgings for the night. Next morning, it was up to the sixth floor and the Six Brasserie for breakfast, a serve-yourself buffet affair with views over the city.
There was croissants, fruit, cereal, meat, cheeses, yoghurt and toast - if you made it yourself - but if you fancied a cooked breakfast, that came with an extra cost.
For me, that was disappointing - I often think a breakfast is the true quality indicator of any stay, so to have to pay extra felt a bit cheeky. We decided against it and filled up on toast, so we effectively made our own breakfast.
And thus, our stay was over. What were our overall conclusions, I hear you ask? I'll tell you.
Firstly, the Varsity is definitely expensive. Be prepared to pay a premium for the location and views.
But the staff were all outstanding - right down to offering coffee shop recommendations while we waited for our car to be collected after check-out - and the service was up there with the best we've had anywhere.
That rooftop terrace is a highlight too, what a place to enjoy a drink or three. And the location is top notch as well, right next to the river and a really nice part of what is a beautiful, historic city.
So, if you're happy to part with coin, want top tier service and jaw-dropping views, plus rooftop bars, rivers and spas, the Varsity should definitely be on your 'to go' list.
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