Madingley Hall

Today was spent at a conference celebrating the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Environmental Records Centre, held in the rather grandiose setting of Madingley Hall. 

Construction of the house was started in 1543 byJohn Hynde  and subsequent generations added to it. Sir John Hynde Cotton inherited Madingley Hall in 1712: during the 40 years that he owned the Hall he transformed it from a panelled Tudor house into a Baroque building, and closed the medieval village street, with the aim of removing the villagers’ houses from sight. In 1905 it was sold to the University of Cambridge in 1948 for the sum of £50,000 and is now the University’s Institute of Continuing Education, which provides residential and non-residential courses, conferences and summer schools for professional groups and the general public from around the world.


The day was very stimulating, with excellent talks on various aspects of geological and biological recording in the county, including a presentation from Pete (though he completely forgot to credit my photographs!!) After it ended we spent a bit of time strolling round the grounds, which include formal landscaping and topiary, an arboretum carpeted with spring flowers, a lake and a walled garden full of botanical treasures, some of which I now want to obtain for our garden. I was rather taken with a tunnel formed from coppiced and trained hazel bushes, which must have been a picture in March, as the margins were carpeted with snowdrops and aconite plants. 


All in all, an excellent day.