All's Well at Kentwell
Sarah and Bryn had kindly invited me to join them for Easter weekend, so I met them in Sittingbourne and we drove up to Sarah's family's place in Colchester. On the drive I was rigorously tested and educated in British slang and cockney rhyming slang. I knew most of the slang, mainly because of Doctor Who and QI, but the rhyming slang is still hard to guess- which is pretty much the point of it.
We had a day of going around Colchester. The castle museum was really neat, it spanned it's history as a Roman fort, to Norman stronghold and castle besieged by King John during Magna Carta and then a prison during the witch trials. There was a chariot racing game (which I was rubbish at) and an exhibition of the Fenwick treasure. When Boudicca, a Celtic leader who you did not want to mess with, lead her people in a rebellion against Rome, a Roman woman buried all her jewelry. She obviously never came back to reclaim it, Boudicca made a point of killing everyone she found - very unpleasant lady, so the gold was found under a department store.
In the evening we made a quick trip out to Mersea and had a boat tour around the harbour. There were a bunch of people crab fishing off the docks, which I didn't realize was so popular, but quite similar to the crayfish catching we used to do at the lake in summer.
We went to Sutton Hoo, the ancient anglo-saxon burial grounds, that were excavated in 1939. It was insanely windy so we didn't stay around the mounds for long, but the little museum they had there was lovely. The intricacy of the found pieces is amazing, the garnets were cut millimetres thick that fit perfectly into the gold casings and the carvings on the iconic helmet are beautiful.
Kentwell Hall was amazing. The weather couldn't make up it's mind whether to be rainy or sunny so it just kept switching, which was fine cause there was plenty to see inside in the hall and around the grounds. Around the estate they had farms, a wool shed with Tudor reenacters spinning and dyeing, a forge where a smith and his apprentice were making fire pokers and an alchemist mixing a bunch of chemicals in the backyard. The unique thing about Kentwell is that, unlike de Bec and Regia shows, Kentwellies remain in first person and adopt "Tudor-speak" to remain in character.
Inside the hall is a bustling kitchen, beautiful corridors and the main room where all the gentry gather. Today was the added celebration of Easter and the end of Lent. Peter and Victoria, who also do Norman reenactment, were there and Peter's the 'master of the house.' They performed some beautiful Tudor dances and later on everyone watched the gentry have their noon meal, or as they refer to it, 'feeding time at the zoo.' They were giving out some samples of the food, so I got to try hoggit, which is sheep at a certain age, and a bunch of other yummy bits.
It's such a cool place, and there's a multi period planned for the end of May, so I'll probably be back - this time in my new kit that I'm in the process of making.
Just as we were leaving, we passed through Lavenham which is a really quaint town. There was one really cool National Trust building that was a guildhall, a bridewell and a workhouse throughout the ages. Best part about it was the costumes that we could try on. It was starting to pour so we all had a quick tea break before heading back home for Easter dinner.
Monday, there was a bit of a hurricane that came in so Sarah and I spent the morning sewing and watching Wooster and Jeeves while the wind went nuts outside. Thanks to Bryn and Sarah and their lovely family for having me over :)