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University of Cambridge

Open: Tuesday–Sunday, 11am–5pm

We are closed on Bank Holiday Mondays.

Please note: On Wednesday 4 February, the Kettle’s Yard house will be closing early. Last entry to the house will be at 3.30pm.

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Open: Tuesday–Sunday, 11am–5pm

We are closed on Bank Holiday Mondays.

Please note: On Wednesday 4 February, the Kettle’s Yard house will be closing early. Last entry to the house will be at 3.30pm.

Tamsin Wilkinson

After a Foundation Diploma in Fine Art at Camberwell College of Art, Tamsin completed her undergraduate training with a First Class Joint Honours BA degree in Visual studies & Publishing from Oxford Brookes University. Moving to London, she pursued a career in editorial design; firstly with Condé Nast Publications, working as Editorial Designer for House & Garden magazine, followed by Art Editor at Brides & Setting up Home. She was then recruited by IPC Magazines as Art Director for their flagship interior magazine, Homes & Gardens with the remit of a complete re-design taking the magazine more upmarket.

With the birth of her first child in 1999, she moved to Ireland and after a decade of looking at houses professionally, renovated a farm in the foothills of the Wicklow mountains, learning how to farm sustainably. In 2003, she moved to Malta, this time to an old villa surrounded by neglected fields in the middle of the Maltese countryside. Over the course of the next twenty years she transformed the villa and land into a productive organic olive farm, planting over 3000 olive trees. During this time, she set up a small school and for ten years ran a successful home education programme for her four children.

Since 2015, she has been Director of educational charity Elimu Ni Thamani, (education changes lives) based in Nakuru, Kenya. The charity provides essential therapeutic, remedial and financial support for extremely vulnerable children and young adults. Starting with one member of staff in a local primary, it now supports over 500 children and their families in multiple schools and institutions throughout the slum districts and rural communities.

She returned to Cambridge in 2022 for her two younger children to complete their education and joined the Development Committee of Kettle’s Yard in 2024. Her love for Kettle’s yard stems from her very first visit as an eighteen year art student when it made a deep impression on her; the beauty and spirit of the place has inspired her own career trajectory and life choices. Art has remained a core passion throughout her life and she draws and paints regularly.

Tamsin says: “Being part of the Development Committee has been a deeply rewarding experience and I am looking forward to developing my relationship with this very special place at a vital point in its evolution.”