Cherry Hinton Hall

Cherry Hinton Hall is a small house and park in Cherry Hinton, to the south of Cambridge, England. The house and grounds are owned and managed by Cambridge City Council.

The Hall is most well known for hosting the annual Cambridge Folk Festival, an ever-growing (in size and popularity) event that regularly draws thousands to the park. During the summer months, aside from hosting the Folk Festival, Cherry Hinton Hall is alive with predominantly young families enjoying the wide open grass spaces and the large duck pond which for many is the defining feature of the park along with the vast array of other wildlife living there. Many community activities also take place in the park, such as an archaeological and buildings survey carried out by children at the local St Bede's Inter-Church School, in 2007.

In 2007, Cherry Hinton Hall became home to Cambridge International School and later Holme Court School for dyslexics. Both schools are part of the International Schools Partnership.

In 2009 The Friends of Cherry Hinton Hall formed a new group of people concerned about the usage, environment, welfare and future of the park for the benefit of those who use it most. The friends want to act as advocates / champions of Cherry Hinton Hall grounds for the general public and act as a communication channel between the Council and public.

John Okes was a surgeon at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge. He was born in 1793 in Cambridge. His father was Thomas Verney Okes who was a doctor at the Addenbrookes Hospital. John served his apprenticeship with his father and later qualified at Cambridge University to become a very successful surgeon.

In 1824 John married Mary Elizabeth Collin Martin who was the only daughter of Joseph Martin Esq. of Epping. The couple lived in Cambridge for some time. Between 1831 and John purchased the old enclosures at Mill End Close, and the land at Mill End common then in 1839 he built Cherry Hinton Hall on this land. John Okes outlined in a court case the improvements he made to the land. He said when he bought it there was only an old farm house on it. He built the Hall and then laid out the gardens. He made the following statement in 1854.

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