A week at Madingley Hall

Pin It

Madingley Hall is a Jacobean and Elizabethan mansion located about four miles from the centre of Cambridge. I have often cycled past it and marvelled at the beautiful house. So when I found out I was going to stay there for one whole week - I was naturally jumping with joy!

The house dates back to 1543 and passed through several hands until sold to Colonel T. Walter Harding in 1905. Colonel Harding was an industrialist who had succeeded his father in the textile industry in Leeds and became the first Lord Mayor of Leeds (1898-1899). He found the hall in a poor condition but decided to renovate it - in 1906 work started on a large-scale restoration and reconstruction to designs by the architect John Alfred Gotch. Later ownership passed to Colonel Harding’s heirs who sold the Hall and its 300 acres of surrounding park and farmland to the University of Cambridge in 1948.

Colonel Harding

The University runs its Institute for Continuing Education at Madingley Hall and I took a short course there, which is how I ended up spending a week at the grade I listed house. Although the course was quite intensive, the house provided a very relaxed setting and there were many opportunities to wander off, soak up the Sun and photograph the house and gardens.

The impressive entrance 




View from my room

Walking up the avenue in the formal gardens 



Peeping out from the classroom windows



The Grade I listed gardens designed by 'Capability' Brown



Cambridge in Holi colours!

Pin It

Holi the Indian festival of colour was celebrated recently by the Cambridge University Indian Society at the Queen's Green. I will let the photographs speak for themselves as they sum up all the fun and frolic, colour and camaraderie of this unique festival, enjoy! 

All photographs courtesy Max Liu of Cambridge University Photographic Society (PhoCUS). Thank you so much Max.

Festival of the Spoken Nerd at Cambridge – I want my money back!

Pin It

Having read great reviews of the FOTSN, which mentioned stuff like pyrotechnics, `bangs and flashes’ and stand up math, I was eagerly looking forward to the show but it turned out to be very disappointing. For starters at last night's show at the University Centre in Cambridge, we were informed that only songstress Helen Arney and “experiments guy” Steve Mould will be performing, as stand up mathematician Matt Parker was away in Australia, (very unprofessional indeed considering all the publicity material included his name).

They tried to cover this up by including videos of Parker on Australian beaches showing you how to impress ladies, by calculating the distance between you and the horizon and the total quantity of water in the world. All very nicely done but it left us feeling that we could have just watched it on YouTube if we wanted to. Another embarassing moment for the duo was when they called Parker on Skype to try to fit in some of his stand up math, but nothing was audible owing to the weak internet connection.

Although the concept of combining science and comedy is intriguing, this show failed to rise beyond that, as the performances were a big letdown. It felt like the show was hurriedly put together at the last minute by a couple of high school kids and all of it seemed terribly under rehearsed.

Helen Arney and Steve Mould

In contrast both the guest stand up comedians – Robin Ince and Prof. Richard Wiseman brought a dash of much needed energy to the stage and their performances saved the day to be honest. Especially Prof. Wiseman with his razor sharp wit and great comic timing was the star of the show. He shared some facts on how our brain and eyes play tricks with us – going on to show photographs of random day-to-day objects in which we see faces, because our brain is trained to see faces everywhere. His performance showed that there is a lot of scope in the sci-comedy genre, but it all hangs on the performance. The regular audience at such shows might already know all of the sciency bits, but they are only there to be entertained by lively performers. 

Prof. Richard Wiseman and some of his slides

  

Cambridge Raincoat Company

Pin It

Here is something to brighten your day next time it rains - beautiful raincoats in yummy colours from the Cambridge Raincoat company. I love the way they have focussed on the cyclists and combined style with utility. Most of the pictures in their brochure show students with their cycles in a quintessentially Cambridge setting, as they go about their day in and around the colleges.

Picture courtesy the Cambridge Raincoat Company

How to design a room with a Autumn/Winter theme?

Pin It

It’s winter and I have this urge every evening to tuck my toes under me and curl up in a big armchair with a soft warm throw. Add to that a cup of hot chocolate and a good book and I am transported back to my childhood and Enid Blyton’s stories set in English cottages.

A traditional English room matches this mood perfectly. With its wood paneled walls, great stone fireplaces and cozy leather armchairs it is a perfect escape from cold weather. Cambridge University has many such beautiful rooms, which seem to be plucked straight out of Hogwarts castle. And it is simply wonderful to be able to wander in and sit next to the fireplace sometimes.

I have recently moved house and am using the elegant rooms pictured above as inspiration to transform my drab grey university apartment. Recreating this look in our homes is quite simple; we just need to deconstruct and understand its basic elements. Perhaps we can start by focussing on a single corner of the living room and make it cozy. Add an armchair, a stack of books, a tall lamp, throws and cushions in warm earth tones or a footstool to rest tired feet on, like this one made by Kiran Ravilious.

A heavy wooden chest of drawers can provide the same sense of backdrop as the wooden paneling in this Jonathan Adler designed room. A roaring fire is the perfect accessory to project all the warm colors – orange, red, amber into your interiors. But if you don’t have a fireplace do not despair. Grouping candle stands together, or a chandelier in bronze or brass can instantly provide that golden glow to any room.  

Top Tip:  Displaying fruits like apples and figs with walnuts and pine cones in a rough carved wooden platter is also a quick way to bring the seasonal theme into your room.

A spring morning at the Orchard in Grantchester

Pin It

Friday: It’s a cold rainy evening and we are having dinner with some friends. Recenty back from a backpacking trip across China they are full of stories. As the waiter starts serving green tea, John tells us about tea gardens in China. Sitting for hours in a garden sipping tea, as your cup is topped with hot water. He considers these gardens the epitome of civilization. Poles apart from the drink and dash culture in the western coffee shops. There people have the sense to sit and reflect, laugh and talk with each other. You won’t find such a thing here, he says. Here people only like to show off the Starbucks logo on their coffee cup, who is interested in actual conversation.

Well actually we have a tea garden in Cambridge too, Jamie says – The Orchard at Grantchester! Everybody laughs, but I am intrigued. Let’s go to the Orchard I say to H as we drive home. No, let’s wait for summer! It is much more beautiful then, he replies.

Sunday: It is the second last day of February and the chill is refusing to go away. Little daffodils are valiantly trying to stand up straighter against the cold wind. Then one morning the sun decides to listen to the daffodils, and shine! In the morning we wake up earlier than usual, rubbing our sleep filled eyes in surprise. The entire room is awash with sunlight – bright, sharp and cheerful.

It is simply not a day for breakfast in bed! H and I scamper into our wellies and out of the house. It is a nice day to go to the Orchard he says, as we get on our bikes. I just raise my head to the sun and smile. Grantchester has decided to call me to itself!

So off we go, cycling along the river and across the meadows. I cannot honestly say that it was at its most beautiful. Two days of continuous rain had made the path muddy and slippery. The fields looked worn and tired but there were signs of spring everywhere - swatches of purple and orange daffodils and flashes of forsythia brightened the way for us.

The orchard itself is ideally located at the end of the cycle track, providing a perfect spot to rest after cycling all the way to Grantchester. And what a grand resting point it is! They have a collection of mouthwatering pastries, cakes and the famous scones baked fresh every day and served with an assortment of jams or honey. I decided to sample a fruit scone with Morello cherry jam.

Then of course there is tea, for which the orchard is famous in the first place. Taking tea is an old tradition at the orchard, started in 1897 when a group of Cambridge students made the excursion to Grantchester and asked Mrs. Stevenson to serve them tea under the blossoming apple trees. Unknowingly on that spring morning, they had started a great Cambridge tradition. It might have looked exactly like the picture below.

But the actual credit of making the orchard famous has to go the poet Rupert Brooke. He took up lodging at the Orchard House in 1909, wanting to escape his hectic social life in Cambridge. However, Brooke was so good-looking and popular that he attracted a regular stream of visitors. Adding further appeal to the orchard was its mention in his poem “The Old Vicarage, Grantchester” which he wrote in a homesick mood in Berlin while remembering his idyllic time in Grantchester.