Study Day 2025 – Cancellation

The Study Day at Bourn Hall, planned for 12 July 2025, has had to be cancelled. We regret any inconvenience and will refund pre-paid bookings. The Events Group will consider alternative arrangements.

A deep dive into the history of
Bourn Hall and its parkland

Our Study Day offers a rare opportunity to visit the relatively little-researched Grade II* Bourn Hall, now an IVF clinic, and its Grade II park, whose histories we hope to tease out with a programme of talks and a guided walk of the grounds. We are sure you will enjoy lively discussion with our eminent speakers and relax over a light lunch with speakers, members and guests. If you would like to take part in the guided walk, please bring shoes suitable for rough meadows.

Outline Programme

	Liz Whittle, the current CGT Chair, is a garden historian specialising in the Tudor and Stuart periods, both in UK and the continent. Liz will be our Study Day Chairman and will host the group discussion at the end of the day.
	Dr Kay Elder joined Bourn Hall in 1984 as Clinical Assistant to Patrick Steptoe, becoming a senior embryologist in the IVF lab in 1987. Kay has become the archivist for the hall and its grounds, and will lead us through a timeline of the hall’s owners as well as the current owners’ impact on the world of IVF.
	Alison Taylor is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, Member of the Institute of Field Archaeologists and one-time editor of the Proceedings of Cambridge Antiquarian Society. The Cambridgeshire County Archaeologist for 21 years, Alison will recount her rediscovery of the the Relhan Collection and its connection to Bourn Hall.
	Dr Laura Mayer is a lecturer, writer and researcher with an MA in Garden History and a PhD in 18C patronage. Originally an art historian, she fell into garden history whilst working at the Alhambra. Laura has published on Brown, Repton and the county’s historic gardens, and she will assess the context and impact of the Reptons at Bourn.
	Dr Jill Francis is an early modern historian, specialising in gardens of the Elizabethan and Stuart period. She is currently engaged as a lecturer and a volunteer for the Gardens Trust in delivering their programme of weekly on-line talks. Jill will examine the evidence for a Jacobean garden at Bourn Hall and how it might have looked.
	Angus Wainwright, has been with the National Trust for more than 30 years and is currently their East of England archaeologist. A speaker at our 2023 Study Day, Angus will lead us this time over the humps and bumps in the Bourn Hall turf, helping us to reimagine its possible former garden structures.

Members £35, non-members £40, to include refreshments and a light lunch

For the time being, our preferred method of booking is by BACS transfer to our new bank account in the name of Cambridgeshire Gardens Trust (sort code 30-99-50, account number 80635768) using your name as reference; please confirm payment by email to admin. Cheques, payable to Cambridgeshire Gardens Trust, may be sent to Judith Christie, Teal Cottage, Fen Drayton CB24 4SH. To assist catering, please book by Tuesday 24 June.