Kettle’s Yard, The House

Between 1958 and 1973 Kettle’s Yard was the place Jim and Helen Ede called home. In 1966, while still living there, they gave it to Cambridge University. It is now a living museum and gallery, showing the Edes’ collection as arranged by them. Artworks alongside furniture, glass, ceramics and natural objects such as pebbles and wood, with the aim of creating a harmonious whole. Jim Ede’s vision was of a space that should not be

an art gallery or museum, nor … simply a collection of works of art reflecting my taste or the taste of a given period. It is, rather, a continuing way of life from these last fifty years, in which stray objects, stones, glass, pictures, sculpture, in light and in space, have been used to make manifest the underlying stability.

Today each afternoon (apart from Mondays) visitors can ring the bell and ask to look around (there is no entry fee). The house is said to be a work of art in itself. Warm, generous, and well-informed guides are available to help visitors ’see’ and understand the spirit and history of the house.