Bank holiday weekends are always the perfect time to leave london and have a day out. We hopped on a train to Cambridge 45mins from Kings Cross we had arrived in the beautiful city of Cambridge.
Kettle's Yard was our first destination after a hearty lunch. I've seen so many images of Kettle's Yard and had never been before so when we arrived we certainly were not disappointed. http://www.kettlesyard.co.uk
Having walked down a narrow walkway you are confronted with St Peter's church on the right and the gallery on the left. The house is straight in front and a small queue of people waiting outside as there is a limitation on how many visitors are allowed in at any one time.
You enter the house through an old wooden door and the staircase is immediately on your left this space then opens out into a perfectly formed reading room and dining area, nestled in the corner with a small bedroom and bathroom at the end of the house.
The placement of objects, prints, paintings, flowers and furniture is very much how the house was when Jim and Helen Ede had lived there.
Jim was a curator at Tate in the 1920's and the house is filled with artists works he collected such as Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore, Miro, and Lucie Rie.
It was also refreshing to be encouraged to sit down on the many chairs scattered throughout the house. As the rooms were meant to be seen from a sitting position.
As you climb the stairs to the first floor again you are presented with a lounge area with a piano and seating space next to a large window and a huge painting hanging on the wall at an angle that follows the line of the wall itself.
There's an abundance of plants and greenery dedicated areas floodlit with natural sunlight where the plants are clustered together. The entire space has an instantly welcoming feel to it.
Despite the fact it is a gallery that happens to be within a domestic setting. It feels as though Jim and Helen have just momentarily popped out.
As you walk down some steps there is the most unexpected transformation to the space. In 1970 the extension to this house was completed. Architecturally it is reminiscent of it's time, the space is light and airy, cleverly divided revealing different views as you walk though the rooms. Minimal in it's construction with clean linear structures creating and dividing the space.
Kettles Yard is shortly going to be closed from the 22nd June 2015 for two years due to redevelopment work to open a cafe, and education centre and expand the gallery area.
I will definitely pay another visit upon it reopening in 2017.
