There is one major difference between a charity shop and almost every other shop on the high street.

You don't really know what's going to be there.

That £150 coat could be £15.

The book you've been hunting for could be £2.

Or you could spend 25 minutes looking through everything and leave with a china duck you absolutely did not need.

That's rather the point.

So rather than pretending we can rank constantly changing stock, here are seven Cambridgeshire stops that give you different reasons to have a look.

1. The Next Chapter — Huntingdon

This isn't a conventional clothes-and-bric-a-brac charity shop.

specialises in books and music, with sections covering fiction, history, art, transport, science, manga and comics alongside vinyl, CDs, DVDs, Lego, musical instruments, coins and stamps.

It's at 101 High Street, Huntingdon, and profits support the Huntingdonshire History Festival.

Go looking for: Books, vinyl, collectables and the unexpected.

2. British Red Cross — Burleigh Street, Cambridge

Burleigh Street makes sense when you want to browse several charity shops rather than make one isolated stop.

Located at 26 Burleigh Street carries men's and women's clothing, shoes, books, CDs, DVDs, homeware and bric-a-brac.

And because you're already on one of Cambridge's main charity-shopping stretches, you can keep walking if nothing catches your eye.

Go looking for: Clothes, books and homeware then continue the Burleigh Street rummage.

3. British Heart Foundation — Ely

Ely has long attracted charity-shop hunters, and the BHF shop Ely gives you a broad mix rather than one specialist category.

At 13 High Street, it lists clothing, shoes, accessories, books, music, toys and household items among its stock.

The advantage here is location: don't necessarily visit one shop and leave. Make the centre of Ely the hunt.

Go looking for: A bit of everything.

4. Huntingdon Together Charity Shop — Huntingdon

Here's one with a particularly local connection which

is run by Volunteer Centre Huntingdonshire and sells clothing alongside household goods, toys, books and games.

Money raised supports its Community Car Scheme and other local work. It's at 1 Princes Street, opposite Huntingdon Library.

So the money you spend hunting for a bargain stays closely connected to the surrounding community.

Go looking for: Household items, toys, games and clothes.

5. Age UK — St Ives

If you're making a second-hand circuit around the county, St Ives deserves a stop too.

Age UK Shop gives us an excuse to combine charity shopping with a wander around the town centre rather than treating the shop as the whole trip.

And that's often the better way to charity-shop: pick a town, park once and explore what's there.

Go looking for: Whatever has arrived that week — that's half the fun.

6. Cancer Research UK — Wisbech

For Fenland, Cancer Research UK at Cromwell Retail Park is a larger-format option selling second-hand goods across categories including clothing and homeware.

A retail-park location also makes this one easier to combine with other errands than a dedicated trip into a town centre.

Go looking for: Clothing and home items.

7. British Heart Foundation — Huntingdon

Yes, Huntingdon gets a third entry — because the three shops give you quite different reasons to visit at 50 High Street lists clothing, shoes, accessories, books, toys and homeware.

Combine it with The Next Chapter and Huntingdon Together and you've got the beginnings of a three-shop rummage without travelling between towns.

Go looking for: Clothes, accessories, books, toys and homeware.

The Charity-Shop Rule

Don't go looking for one exact item and expect to find it.

That's how normal shopping works.

Charity shopping works better backwards:

See what's there. Decide whether you want it.

And if you find a £12 jacket you wear for the next five years, all the better.

One More For Our List?

We know seven won't settle this.

If there's a charity shop in Ely, Cambridge, St Ives, St Neots, March, Wisbech, Huntingdon or somewhere we've missed where you regularly find the good stuff, tell us.

Nominate A Charity Shop