Throughout the year, we will explore the theme in both a literal and a more imaginative way. We will look at the real routes taken by the people connected to this house – David Parr, his granddaughter Elsie Palmer, their families, and the F. R. Leach firm and the Leach family. At the same time, we will consider how journeys and the mapping of real or imagined events continue to inspire creative work today.

Through our exhibitions, projects, and guided walks, we highlight the links between past and present. We look at how travel, movement, and the retracing of steps across generations have shaped the house and the people who lived here. These activities also help us connect the stories of the Parr and Leach families with wider communities.

In 2025, our focus turned to the natural world, inspired by the motifs and values of David Parr and the wider Arts and Crafts Movement. In the face of an urgent climate crisis, we explore how art can educate, inform, and reimagine our relationship with nature.

From commissioning climate-resilient garden design from Anna’s Flower Farm made possible with support from The Wolfson Foundation to Freddie Yauner’s Pollen Paintings, we examined new ways to engage with and find refuge in the natural environment, embedding Arts and Crafts values in daily life. 

Letter, Word & Text celebrated David Parr’s painted schemes and Cambridge’s strong history of sign painting and decorative lettering. The programme included an exhibition of selected works from The Rampant Lions Press, highlighting its use of blackletter typefaces and its links to Parr’s designs.

Our House Guests exhibition, Words to Live By; Words to Live With, invited artists to reflect on the lasting influence of words. They were asked to consider which texts they would choose to live with every day, and which words guide the way they live.

Inspired by the work of Mary Jane Parr, David Parr’s wife and a “doubler” who spun cotton threads at home to create new yarns, the programme adopted Textiles as its central theme. This year also marked the beginning of House Guests, our annual series inviting contemporary creatives to respond to the house’s heritage. Through textile‑based works, we explored themes of making, domesticity, and the stories – both personal and cultural – woven into the fabric of the house.