Mary Challis was founder of the Challis Trust and settlor of the Mary Challis House and Garden and the Challis Museum in Sawston, Mary joined the Perse School for Girls in the 1930s and can be seen here in her school uniform in the mid-late 1930s, going on to be Head Girls in 1944. After completing her schooling, Mary took a BSc in Horticulture at Studley College for Women in Warwickshire, before returning to Sawston where she lived and worked until her death in 2006, leaving her house and garden in trust for the benefit of the inhabitants of Sawston village and the neighbourhood.