Indoor Activities in Ely

This one comes closer than most. The under-fives have Treetops Soft Play and South Angle Farm Park, the middle years get the animals and the cathedral, and older children take more from The Stained Glass Museum and the building around it than younger ones will. What a short list cannot do is offer two options for the same child on the same day, so expect repeats.

Ely Cathedral works better with children than most people assume, because sheer scale does the persuading rather than any explanation. It is also a place with rules — voices down, no running — so it suits a child who can manage that for half an hour and punishes a family arriving with one who cannot. Check what is on and whether any part is closed to visitors.

Witcham Equestrian Centre will have age and experience requirements and probably footwear rules, so ask before promising a child a pony. South Angle Farm Park is the less demanding of the two and records outdoor space alongside indoor, so dress for a yard either way. Both reward turning up with a plan for hand-washing and a spare set of clothes in the car.

Honestly, at the thin end. Cineworld Ely and Ben's Yard are the entries most likely to suit somebody past fourteen, and neither is aimed at them in particular. That is the limitation of a page of seven in a small city: it covers the younger half of childhood well and thins out above it. Look beyond the city when the teenager is the one you have to please.