....to Kentwell Hall, 1559.

After a big breakfast in a Wetherspoons to keep us all going, three families went back to change into our Tudor costumes.

Tudor costumes outside the Travelodge.

Then we set out in convoy to Kentwell Hall and 1559.  Once there we changed some of our pounds sterling for Tudor money, 75 new pence to one old penny. 

One pennies, two pennies (which = half a groat) and groats.

Then we went down the Time Tunnel into 1559.  Coming out the other side it really was like coming out into a different time, everybody looked different and the most striking thing for me was that they spoke differently.  It was like talking to some from a foreign country who spoke English as a native language, but with a different dialect where the word order, use of verbs and some vocabularly were a bit different and there were no contractions.

There was so much to see.  We all had a go at dancing on the lawn in front of the big house.  We went to speak to the man who was in charge of coats of arms.  He did one for me, based on me and my husbands family, work and interests.  Things on there include a cross between a leek (A's dad is Welsh) and a shamrock (mine is Irish), a lyre (I play the viola), the torch of learning (I was a teacher), a wheel (A works in transport) and various other things too.

My coat of arms with some notes that he took.

Candle-making.

One of the most popular things, that most of us had a go at, was archery. 

M.

K.

Me - I hit the target with my third arrow, which I was very chuffed about!

We also got to see how it's really done and we learned about the bows and different types of arrows.

C & K waiting for others to have their turn at the archery.

By this time some of the small people (my two!) were getting hungry, so we headed in the direction of where we could buy something to eat.  On the way we passed plenty more things to see and sometimes stopped to talk briefly before we were dragged towards the food!

A spinner - "Just like someone was doing at Fun Club!"

Yarn dyed using different plants to get a wide variety of colours.

We all spent some of our pennies on shortbread biscuits, sticky oats (flapjack), men of ginger and marchpane (marzipan).  We also made use of the cups that we had attached to our belts by our cupstrings and found that you really need a long enough one!

We headed into the wood to see the hovel, where there were some people using every part of a coney (rabbit).  I knew that a rabbit's foot is supposed to be lucky, but I didn't know that the back foot is supposed to be unlucky, because it will never catch up with the front one, so if you have an argument with your neighbour, burying a rabbit's back foot on their land to bring them bad luck.

M helping with wood turning by the hovel.

 I was put in the stocks on the insistence of my child - I wasn't happy!

Among other we stopped to find out about was needle and pin-making.  It is mind-boggling how much work went into making them all by hand, but reflected in the fact that a small number of lesser quality pins or needles would cost a couple of days wages!

Looking at the pins and needles.

 We also saw potters, sotlers (they made the food on a fire outside to feed all the workers that was given to them along with their wages), a scrivener (who would do writing if needed by those who couldn't themselves) and more.  Then we headed to the house.  In the kitchen they had three different ways of cooking.  There were the bread ovens, the big open hearth and a fairly new invention the precursor to our hob.

The huge fireplace.

For cooking in pots without risking setting your clothes on fire!

We went into the grand part of the house and met a relative of the master and mistress of the house, who told us about chess.  I learned that until the 15th century the queen was called the prime minister and could only move in the same way as the king.

K, M and the posh lady!

We then moved into the great hall, where we met a couple who were neighbours of the manor, who sang beautifully, unaccompanied.  I learned that in Tudor times music notation was similar to ours, but the stalks of notes were in the centre rather than to the left or right of the note and from what I saw there was only common time and not common time, and there were no bars.

They were then joined by a man who brought out a viol and accompanied them for another song.

We then headed for the dairy, where we found that in Tudor times butter was made by hand - literally!  The dairy maid had a big bowl of cream and was mixing it with her hands.  She told us that it took a couple of hours in good weather, but up to about six in winter!

Making butter.

We went to see some other things and when we returned about 15-20 minutes later, she'd make good progress!

And the result!

There was also cheese there, a bit like we did a while back.  When I pointed it out to K and said we'd made some the dairy maid asked if we'd slaughtered the calf ourselves to get the rennet.

Cheese!

Breadmaking.

The bread oven.

You can tell that the oven is hot enough when you put your arm inside and the hairs get singed.  They push the fire to the side when it's time to back.

The master brewer.

Basket making.

We found out about the pre-cursor to photography in the camera obscura.

You can see the children upside down at the top of the picture.

The back of the house.

The children watching the young ladies of the house being taken for a punt on the moat.

By the time we'd seen pretty much everything, we had about half an hour left and the consensus was that the children wanted another go at the archery.  We then headed back to the hovel, where there was a rope swing inside and the wood turning.  Finally (with a slight hiccup when we lost K due to a misunderstanding, but found her again), we went and spent some more of our pennies and groats at the market stall.

We were all very tired, but all agreed that it had been an absolutely fantastic day.  Both K & M say that their best bit was 'all of it' and we all hope that they'll do another day for HEdders and we will definitely come back if they do and possibly even if they don't!

Finally, I just wanted to share the fantastic sculpture in the garden, I'm guessing it's not very Tudor, but I love it!