Lakes of Cold Fen is a traditional Cambridge folk song, the tune of which was collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams from John Harman in Bassingbourn in 1907. Vaughan Williams was an undergraduate at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1892-94, and in 1906 he brought his wife to Meldreth for a summer's holiday, returning for visits in 1907 and 1908. Being inveterate cyclists, it's entirely possible that he and his wife cycled to Bassingbourn in their quest to collect the folk tunes of the area. (We know that the meeting with John Harman was on Tuesday, July 30th!) John Valentine Harman was an agricultural labourer who lived at The Tanyard in Bassingbourn with his wife, three sons and four daughters. He was 51 when Vaughan Williams collected The Lakes of Cold Fen from him.