Whiling away my
maternity leave I have found a novel way to pass the time.
I have been on a
college grand tour, a self imposed challenge to visit every undergraduate
college in the university before baby makes an appearance.
I thought of the plan
because I often find myself getting a bit resentful about the amount of green
space in Cambridge, which is hidden away behind ornate (and so often closed!)
doors.
This feels like an
injustice when the open green spaces amount to not much more than scrubby areas
of grass, greatly lacking when compared to the beautifully landscaped, lush and
sculpture bedecked secret gardens the colleges are harbouring.
Some of the colleges
are open to visitors for free, others charge a handsome sum for entry and some
are only open at certain times to protect student lives from hoards of
tourists.
My goal was to get
into every single college without spending any money or getting in anyone’s
way. I managed this with a little sneaking and some confident striding!
My favourite thing
about the project was the amount of variation between the colleges. They range from
the very oldest (Peterhouse founded in 1284) to the newest (Robinson founded
in 1977).
I wanted to visit the
29 ‘official’ colleges from the Cambridge website though there are other colleges
in Cambridge apart from these.
I snapped a picture of
something within each of the college grounds which took my fancy, each college
has little quirks and beautiful bits, even the newer and less famous colleges
had really charming parts, secret gardens, peaceful chapels and stunning
stained glass windows were just some of the treasures I came across.
My personal favourites
from the project were Downing, which is open to all and has a beautiful library
and Pembroke which was just completely charming. But I also loved the gardens at Murray Edwards College, the
chapel at St Catherine’s and the secret swimming pool at Emmanuel.
The stained glass
window I’ve chosen from Gonville and Caius was dedicated to my great
grandfather Ronald Fisher who was a renowned Geneticist and Statistician. He
was also a Fellow and then President of the college for many years. I believe
it has something to do with his work into the ‘Latin Square’.
All in all, I feel that I
know this place a little better now and will be able to find some pretty shady
spots to rest in when the sun is out this summer!
colleges in order of appearance (left to right)
Christs, Sidney Sussex, St Johns, Trinity Hall,
Downing, Murrey Edwards, Gonville and Caius,
Corpus Christi, Pembroke, Magdaline
Queens, Clare, Trinity, Lucy Cavendish
St Catherines, Peterhouse, Emmanuel, Saint Edmunds
Jesus, Robinson, Fitzwilliam, Churchill
Newnam, Kings, Hughs Hall, Selwyn
Wolfson, Homerton, Girton
No comments:
Post a Comment