Kentwell 1584

Despite all the hassles of getting my costume ready, a muddy camp site and weather that ranged from sunburn-inducing to downpours, we all had a very good time at Kentwell. My fears that the children wouldn’t enjoy themselves were unfounded – they all said they would like to do it again, which is excellent. My memories are already rather jumbled, so this may be a bit random.

I was stationed as a gatekeeper and Katy was in the cott (a small cottage in the house grounds where she and a couple expecting their first child in a month’s time were very domestic). The children were all meant to be in the cott with Katy but the big 3 all came to me or wandered about – in fact K was with me most of the time and ended up correcting me when I was talking to visitors! My job was to stand at the gate with my halberd and codpiece, ask the visiting children if there were any Spanish or Catholics among them, and then warn them about knives, fires etc. and to bow/curtsey to the gentry. Some of them then stayed to learn about the soldiers / gatekeepers, and we showed them a variety of (blunt!) swords, a bit of armour, some pole arms and so on and they got to try things.

Katy was asked if A was real several times, including once when she was actually feeding!

Outside our duties there were lots of other things. The summer solstice was in the week we were there, and was celebrated in a way that wasn’t too pagan for my tastes and I think everyone enjoyed. Some very skilful people had made a wheel of the seasons out of sticks, leaves and flowers and a big green man (like a guy on 5th November). These were thrown on a bonfire, followed by something made by each station around the estate (the cooks brought some people made out of vegetables, the subtlety makers brought a marzipan picture they’d made etc.) There was a little play performed by the children where the Kingdom of Oak gave way to the Kingdom of Holly which was lovely (particularly as they had cute costumes on) and then lots of samba percussion led by a manic gentle giant with a big drum and a whistle.

Another all-station event was the boat race. Each station had to make a boat capable of carrying a candle made by the chandlers. These were then raced along the moat to the bridge. In true It’s a Knockout style, there was the random handicap of the mighty carp in the water, which took a close interest in some entries before realising they weren’t edible. The alchemists tried to cheat by attaching a small bomb full of their black powder but it produced a lot of smoke but no thrust. The cott entry (a hollowed out mangold/turnip filled with some pottage ballast and with a mange-tout sail from the bailiff’s garden) sank without trace, J got rather upset when his boat capsized and then drifted along gently (we discussed how he could make it better next time – centre of gravity, keel etc.) and I think the winner was an adapted lute(!)

There was a ceilidh one night which we all enjoyed even though it was late for the children, and on another night someone produced a dragon piñata. This was excellent as it wasn’t bulletproof or wimpy, but gradually shed some sweets until it broke open completely at the end and generated the usual free-for-all.

One evening on the way to doing the washing up, I was walking across the side bridge over the moat and a young lad from the woodsmen stopped me and told me to look at the moat. There were three or four bats zooming over the surface of the water, searching for insects in complete silence. It was magical. Then I looked into the house and saw loads of candles lit in the bake house and heard the early parts of an evening’s singing and drinking coming out of the bake house window, at the stage where it was authentic Tudor and hadn’t deteriorated into drunken rugby songs.

As well as being immersed in a Tudor world, the children learned a lot. I showed J how to carve the bark off a stick and he made a birthday present stick for someone on my station. He also learned the definition of the tropics from the Merchant Adventurers, K went in a camera obscura and learned about social status (we’re not posh enough to go into the big house), and L saw the blacksmith in action.

The camp site toilets were interesting – at one point there was a hole in the floor of the gents about a foot across and the wall supporting the sink was sagging drunkenly (taking the sink and boiler with it). The lack of baths etc. was OK with children – we realised their attitude to hygiene is Tudor!

There are loads of photos on Flickr.