Dr Jenner's Glorious Garden

The garden at Dr Jenner's house will be the setting for this event.

Dr Jenner’s House and Garden will be abuzz with locals on the afternoon of Sunday 20 May 2012, when it hosts a Glorious Garden event to celebrate the birthday of the celebrated vaccination pioneer.

Hailed as ‘the father of immunology’, Dr Edward Jenner founded a vaccination against smallpox from the quaint house in Berkeley in 1796, changing medical history forever.

On what would be his 263rd birthday, the attraction will be celebrating his beautiful garden with a talk and book-signing from Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall – in which she will discuss how the garden might have looked in his lifetime, as well as explore the field of period garden restoration.

Visitors can also look forward to enjoying refreshments and homemade cakes whilst relaxing on the lawn and soaking up the tranquil space that Jenner loved – weather permitting, of course.

To further mark the occasion, the House and Gardens will also be exhibiting two Georgian Silhouette drawings of Dr Jenner and his wife Katherine. The framed images are thought to be dated from around 1815, and are unique to the House’s collection.

Helen Jeffrey, the education and events officer at Dr Jenner’s House, said: ‘The fact that there are no other known images of Katherine Jenner makes this silhouette of her a rare and exceptional piece that allows us to finally put a face to the ‘love of Jenner’s life’. It is certainly a great asset to our collection and we just had to share it with our visitors!’

© SoGlos

Tuesday 10 April 2012