Blog
Read our latest updates, stories from the house and garden, and get to know the people who bring Winterbourne to life.
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Recipe: Cabinet Pudding
The inspiration for this month’s recipe comes from a Cambridge University student accommodation menu dating from 1900. Steamed puddings were a regular feature on the menu for the Cambridge students, and with Cabinet Pudding having risen to popularity in the 19th century it is very likely that this would have been served up for the
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The University Years: celebrating 125 years of University of Birmingham
2025 marks a milestone for University of Birmingham: 125 years of research, learning and driving change since Queen Victoria granted the Royal Charter in 1900. Winterbourne – built close by in 1903 – is intrinsically entwined with the University’s history. From celebrating our arts-and-crafts heritage, to our commitment to horticulture education, Winterbourne continues to build
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Cultivating knowledge
In 1944 Winterbourne’s grounds became the University’s Botanic Gardens and were used to provide plant material for teaching in the Botany department. Produce from the vegetable garden was used in the kitchen of University House. Initially the gardens were also used to provide decorative plant material for Great Hall. Natural order beds were planted in the
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A passion for plants: women in botany
The University Herbarium contains 60,000 preserved plant specimens, collected by some 2,000 botanists and collectors over the University’s 125-year history. Most of these collectors were men, but some 260 women also worked on this valuable archive – some well documented, others entirely unknown. My name is Lottie, and I’m currently studying an MA in Art
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Sources of inspiration
Head Gardener Dan recently described Winterbourne’s garden as ‘a patchwork quilt of ideas developed over decades by dozens of brilliant, talented and creative people’. When designing the garden, Winterbourne’s first mistress Margaret Nettlefold was particularly influenced by the gardens of Gertrude Jekyll, something that shows in many of the garden’s features. Following a recent visit