Back to Kentwell, this time to 1578.

K & M were very excited to be returning to Kentwell and this time we were bringing A too.  I hadn't realised that each year they choose a specific year during the Tudor period to re-enact, so this time there was anticipation of a visit from Queen Elizabeth in the year 1578.  The girls and I had our clothes from last year, but of course A needed an outfit too.  I had managed to turn an old pair of his trousers into breeches for him, but despite regular trawling of charity shops I hadn't managed to find anything that I thought I could butcher.  Very fortunately the lovely J dug out the shirt, hat and pouch that her husband D had worn last year, to lend him and they were just the job.

Ready to travel back to 1578.

We stayed just outside Ipswich and when it absolutely bucketed down in the car on the way to Kentwell.  We were really very fortunate with the weather in the end though, it rained briefly while we were having our lunch under a gazebo back in 2014 and then just started again as we were leaving at 5 o'clock with torrential rain on the journey back to Nottingham.

The time tunnel opened at 11 o'clock and we arrived about a quarter of an hour early, although we were far from the first there.  We had plenty of time to go and change our 'coin' for pennies and groats and we were ready and waiting when the time tunnel opened and were the first through it into 1578.

Last year we left the hall until later on and by the time we went it was quite quiet in there.  This time it was very different.  There were preparations going on in the kitchen.

In the kitchen.

We talked to some women who were laundering ruffs and coifs, then moved on and spoke to the Steward in his room, where two pages were playing chess (although they weren't allowed to play with the real pieces, so used counters for pawns and pieces of paper with drawings on them for the other pieces).  We moved on and saw a scrivener (who can write and does so for those who cannot) and a woman making amazing creations out of marchpane (marzipan).

In the process of making a ship out of marchpane.

More marzipan creations.

We moved through to the great hall, where there was a consort of viols.  We listened to them playing and then had a look at the music, which looks quite different from what we're used to, but alike enough for me to be able to have a go at singing along with them and a lady who was also there.  The singing part was the same as one of the viol parts, although I must admit I couldn't read the words, due both to the script and the fact it was in Italian!  It was interesting (for me anyway!) to hear about the instruments, of which there were three different viols and seeing the differences and similarities between them and the modern violin family (as I play the viola) and modern guitars (I'm self-taught and can strum chords as an accompaniment if the chords aren't too tricky!).

We then moved through to the parlour and were given a brief history lesson by a lady there about some of the people in the portraits on the walls, including Mary Tudor, Henry VIII's sister, after whom the ship the Mary Rose was named.  We also spoke to a lady who was reading a book about strange beasts who told of us the beaver, which is apparently part mammal, part fish!

Next we went around the back to the dairy, bakery and brewhouse.  We had been trying to find some water to have a drink and were told that we might find some in the dairy, and indeed were offered some there.  K tasted it first and told me it tasted funny, M also had some before I tasted it and we discovered that it was the brine they use for wiping down the cheese!  We did get our drink of water afterwards though.  K & M each had a go at making little butter balls for the hall while we were there.

M went first...

....then K.

In the bakehouse there were making manchet bread from fine white flour for the people at the hall and they showed us how the 'sieved' it using a muslin cloth, which was very time consuming.

Manchet bread for the rich folk.

We then moved on to the alehouse, where A and I sampled two different ales, which were rather good!

Tasting the 'small beer' - a working man would get a ration 12 of pints each day!

We headed upstairs to find the women who the poorer folk who couldn't afford to see a doctor would go to to tend to their ills.  They were busy making poultices, rubs and more from herbs and they soon set K & M to work with pestle and mortars.

M pounding cleaver and K lavender.

Next we saw women working on a large embroidery to go on the wall in the hall, which they have been working on for 4-5 summers, which when you think that in each square inch there are about 400 stitches is understandable and of course they could work only when there is enough light and when not working on the day to day mending and making of coifs and the like.

Very fine work.

There was only one disappointment in the day and that was that this year we couldn't have a go ourselves at the archery as we did last year.

Demonstrating how archers shot in battle - at least 12 arrows/minute.

It was at this point that we went back down the time tunnel to have our picnic lunch.  The girls were keen to visit the hovel, but first we visited some of the other people in front of the hall.  There was a wood turner, making bobbins and his wife who was making a chord with different coloured threads.

The wood turner...

....and his wife.

We then talked to the wife of a spice merchant, who showed us and let us smell many of her wares, including cinnamon, nutmeg, star anise and a fairly new thing, vanilla!

Lots of things to hear about, see and smell!

We then returned briefly to the great hall to see what was going on there and found that they were in the middle of their meal; the fine gentlefolk at the high table and the some of the more lowly ones at the low table.  One of the men there called to M to fetch another flagon of ale, which after looking to me she decided she would do and was most put out when he said he was jesting and insisted on going round to the alehouse to try to get one anyway.

The high table...

...and the low table.

I was keen to see if the alchemist was around, as last year he wasn't, so we went in search of him and found him.  He had many strange things, including a rams skull, which he told us was worth around one and half times the worth of the manor, although we didn't entirely understand why!  He had a chameleon preserved in a jar (along with a hornet), eye balls similarly preserved (which he collected in order to cut them up to study them, although they need to be boiled first otherwise the pressure inside them causes them to explode when pierced with a knife), he also had the shed skin of a tarantula and a snake.  He was very keen on his chameleon and kept asking what was special about them, telling us of the length of their tongue (1 1/2 times it's body length), that they can lose a limb up to 9 times and grow it back, although shorter each time, that they change colour according to their mood, that they can move their eyes independently and have sticky feet so that they can walk upside down.

The alchemist with his chameleon in a jar.

Next we went to see the chandlers, who made both tallow and bees wax candles, the copper pots they use have turned the tallow candles green.  The bees wax candles cost 6 times more than the tallow ones, so only the rich could afford them, but they burn longer and smell sweet.

With the chandlers

K examining the honeycomb.

There was still lots more to see, including the forge where the smiths were making a chandelier for the hall.  At the potters we talked about making an ocarina, as the potter had had a request for one.  M was particularly interested in this as she has one that she likes to play occasionally.  Each of the girls made a little thing from the clay that they dig up for the nearby riverbed, M made a bead and K a die.

At the potters.

We talked to the dyer, who told us what must have been used to dye our clothes, comparing them to the colours of wool she had hanging up to dry and telling us about the plants that they use.

A rainbow of colours all dyed using different plants.

We then went inside and saw the process of getting from fleece to cloth.

Teasing out the wool from the washed fleece.

Carding the wool...

....watched by K, A & M.

And spinning the wool.

And another method of spinning.

Then weaving cloth on a loom.

At various points we spent some of our coin on things to eat, including sticky oats (flapjack), men of ginger, biscotts and marchpane, all very tasty.

We had a maths lesson of adding up in roman numerals, which were used then.  It was very clever, first we identified what all of the different letters stood for and why, which was new to me.  For example L is 50 because a Legion had 50 men.  Then using pottery letters a sum was set out and to add them up, all that was needed was to set them in order of size and where there were for example six I's, exchange five of them for a V until it was completely simplified and there you have your answer.

Doing sums.

We were also told the story of the Tower of Babel, which is what the carved tree next to the hall is depicting.


Both K & M were keen to visit the hovel, but I hadn't realised why.  It was because last year there had been a rope swing inside it and they were slightly disappointed that it wasn't there this year.  We chatted for a while to the people there, who were all busy with various tasks such as making a paddle for a coracle, making new legs for a stool, knitting or making cord.

Making new legs for a stool.

By this time we had seen pretty much everything, I think and there was about an hour left of the day.  We asked K & M what they would most like to return to and they agreed they'd like to go back to the butts to see the archers and return to the dairy and bakery and the hall if there was time.  We went to see the archers first and saw some of the different types of arrows and heard about what they were used for.  We also heard about an archery competition that the Tudors had had the day before and learned that a 15 year had won and that there was a toddler of 18 months there who could shoot as far as the first target that they have set out, which K & M had just about managed to reach when they tried last year!

We didn't get as far as the bakery or the hall, but we did return to the dairy, where the dairy maid recognised us and told us that her mistress had been telling people about her having given us brine to drink!  K & M didn't want to have a go, but I had a go at churning the cream to make butter, which many of the visitors had helped with and after a while it did indeed turn to butter.  It's amazing how quickly (sometimes after churning for hours though!) it changes from cream to butter.

Churning the cream.

Three minutes later - butter!

Having bid the dairy maid farewell, we walked around to the front of the hall, where we were told it was time to leave sadly, but we did have time to have a look at the little market of wares, although we didn't buy anything this time.  We did get a guidebook in the modern shop which was now open though, before returning through the time tunnel, changing what was left of our Tudor coin back into modern money and using their facilities before getting in the car and heading home.  We stopped to eat on the way home and while we were waiting for our food to arrive, I started reading the new book to K & M.  M has decided that she would really very much like to see if she can be a re-enactor next year, so we have started looking into this.  I'm not sure how the logistics would work, but it would certainly be interesting if we can manage it.  I'm not quite sure how it would work if a 10 year old modern girl (as she will be then) wants to be a Tudor boy, as she does, though.

I asked A for his thoughts, as it was his first time there and this is a summary of them.

He was very surprised at just how many volunteers there were and at the range of ages of them, as well as how much space there was and how spread out they were.  He wondered how the Tudor roles are allocated, how it's decided who gets to be the rich gentry and who has to live in the hovel.  He was impressed by the authenticity of the dress, which although he admitted he doesn't know much about, he was very convinced by it.  He thought that the re-enactors were very good at staying Tudor, although you did hear the occasional slip with the language.  He wondered if they have a practice day or two before they open to the public, so they have a chance to get properly into character and whether they stay in character and continue like this when the public leave.  Finally, he found the alchemist very challenging and he wondered if he's an academic in 2014!

If anyone can answer any of these questions, we would both be very interested to find out.