The trick is not to drive over, eat lunch and immediately drive home again.

Give it an afternoon.

Have something good to eat. Walk through town. Get down by the river. Stop somewhere else because you've suddenly decided you're not in a hurry.

That's when a 25-ish mile trip starts feeling less like travelling for lunch and more like escaping Peterborough for a few hours.

And St Ives currently gives you several ways to do it.

First decision: how seriously are we taking lunch?

If lunch is the main event, The Whisky Café is the more intriguing choice.

It's at 11 Market Hill in what used to be the Robin Hood pub — a nice little piece of local history that has survived the transformation.

CAMRA still records Robin Hood as the previous name. CAMRA - The Campaign for Real Ale

The current version is rather different.

The Whisky Café describes its food as globally inspired, with small and large plates designed to be mixed, shared or kept entirely to yourself.

It uses local produce where possible, while the bar majors on whisky, cocktails and other drinks. The Whisky Cafe

And despite the name, you absolutely do not have to spend lunch discussing single malts.

Although if you want to, you're unlikely to have picked the wrong building.

This is the stop we'd choose when the food itself is one of the reasons for making the trip.

One thing to remember: it's currently closed Sundays and Mondays, so this is a Tuesday-to-Saturday plan rather than a spontaneous Sunday escape. The Whisky Cafe

Or don't make lunch such a production

At the other end of the scale, Ivo Lounge on Sheep Market works if the afternoon matters more than having a destination restaurant.

It's part of the Lounges group rather than an independent, but its great advantage is flexibility.

Breakfast, brunch, lunch, burgers, tapas, salads, vegan and gluten-free choices all sit under the same roof.

Dogs are welcome, there are games for children and the place runs from morning into the evening. Lounges

The current weekday lunch deal is particularly straightforward: soup with half a grilled-cheese toastie for £6.95 between noon and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

Tuesdays currently bring three tapas and a drink for £13.95 from 5pm. 

That makes Ivo the answer when you're not quite sure whether you've come for brunch, lunch, coffee or the beginning of drinks.

Which, to be fair, is quite a good state in which to spend an afternoon.

Now earn the next stop

This is the important bit.

Leave the restaurant.

St Ives is wasted if the entire visit consists of a car park, a table and the A14 home.

Walk through the centre and head towards the river.

You don't need an itinerary or a laminated map.

The town is compact enough to wander without turning the afternoon into an organised excursion.

And after a walk, something peculiar happens.

You become entitled to eat again.

We don't make the rules.

The river gives you an excuse

The River Terrace sits beside the river on Bridge Street and is exactly the sort of place that can turn “shall we get a coffee before we go?” into another hour.

It serves breakfast and brunch in the morning, with its pizza oven firing from midday. Pastries, scones, traybakes and other sweet things also feature.

The River Terrace

But the strongest reason for putting it into this particular afternoon isn't complicated.

It's beside the river.

Coffee tastes remarkably similar in many places.

Coffee beside the water when you aren't supposed to be anywhere else for an hour feels completely different.

And if the weather behaves, that's probably where the car keys stay in your pocket a little longer.

The danger is accidentally staying for dinner

This is how an afternoon in St Ives can get out of hand.

You came over for lunch.

You walked by the river.

Somebody suggested coffee.

Then it's later than expected and the question becomes:

“Are we eating before we go home?”

At which point our carefully planned afternoon has become an entirely different option.

We're comfortable with that.

Because the reason for making the short trip from Peterborough isn't that St Ives possesses one restaurant so extraordinary that everyone must immediately get in the car.

It's the combination.

Lunch somewhere interesting.

A town small enough to wander.

The river.

Another drink or something sweet.

And enough choice to let the afternoon continue if nobody particularly wants it to end.

That's a much better reason to travel than simply chasing a plate of food.

Your £25-ish-mile rule

Here's the question we're now interested in.

How good does a food day out have to be before you'll drive 20–30 miles for it?

St Ives passes the test because there's more waiting once lunch is finished.

But there must be other places around Peterborough that do the same.

A great pub plus a walk.

A farm shop and café worth making a morning of.

A village with somewhere brilliant for lunch.

A market town where you can eat, wander and somehow lose four hours.

Give us the place you'd happily drive half an hour for and tell us what we'd eat when we got there.

Comments below please.