J’s account (emailed to First News)

Hello,
My name is J and I am 8 years old. I have just been to Kentwell Hall in Long Melford in Suffolk, where I re-enacted being a Tudor. It was a lot of fun. Each day I had to wake up really early and walk from the campsite to the house to have breakfast. After that my brother and I went to the schoolroom, where we put on a big black hat and a cassock. Then we got out our paperbook and penicils (like a pencil but a different shape and with no paint on it) and started doing the work for the day. We did things like heraldry, all about shields, divinity, learning about saints and learning prayers, and some really fun stuff like how to kill your enemies! Each day we had a long break when we ate our pottage and bread for lunch and played outside, then we started work again in the afternoon. We finished work at 2 and had the rest of the time free to play or look around. I had a blade (knife) as part of my costume, but it was only for eating and woodworking. My brother is only 6, so he doesn’t have a blade yet.
Kentwell Hall is a place where people live as Tudors for some of the time and schools come and visit to see what we are doing. It’s open to the public at weekends and a few other days and there’s loads to see. School parties can go the house or the grounds; personally I think the grounds are more fun because there’s more to see that way. My dad was at the gate, where he frightened everybody by saying what they would do to spies or spaniards (this year is 1588 so the Tudors were really worried about the Spaniards) and made sure everyone knew where to go and what to do. In the afternoons he had to do pike drill, but because the pikes weren’t in good condition he got lots of splinters! My mum and my sisters were at the cotte, which is a Tudor house where people cook pottage and other things like that. My baby sister looked very cute in her Tudor clothes.
If you want to see Tudors at Kentwell for yourself this year you will have to hurry as it’s only on for another couple of weeks (until 6th July), but there are mini events too, at bank holidays. It’s really good, there’s lots to see and do, you can buy things from pedlars too and at the end of the day you go back through the Time Tunnel, which is just a dark wooden tunnel, to the 21st century again.
What did I like best? The Military Pavilion, where they trained people to use swords and things. Or the Butts, where I got to fire arrows.
What did I miss most? Playing on the computer.
I have some photos too. I will get my mum to attach them to this email.
J