The paper describes the tensions and opportunities of using ethnography in evaluation and examines how ethnographic methods may contribute to the evaluation of the Cambridgeshire Time Credits project. In this particular case they provide an opportunity to apply the concepts of ‘pathways to health’ and ‘co-production’ to the context of Wisbech, the organisational structures that support Time Credits and the lives of individual Time Credit members and ultimately to interpret the ways Time Credits operate in this context.