Our plans for Kentwell this year were somewhat complicated by J’s school exchange, which meant that we expected to be hosting a French teenager for the first week and a bit, while J would still be at school until week three. When 6 was also added into the mix, with no idea of whether or not she would enjoy the experience and want to carry on or prefer to be at home, things got just a little more complicated. Then a good friend found out that the court hearing in her rather nasty divorce case was to be the Monday/Tuesday of week one – and I had promised to be there for her to give moral support. Fortunately, Dawn at the office was very accommodating of my uncertainty. Things were made easier rather unexpectedly when J arrived in France to find that his exchange partner was not expecting to stay with us at all, but had been told to go to an entirely different family – confusion reigned for a few hours, until we managed to clarify with J’s school that this was indeed the case; they had just forgotten to inform us of the fact. This meant that 6, A and I were free to stay for Wed – Fri of week one if we wished. When we heard that my friend had settled out of court we were then free to stay for Mon and Tues as well. All that remained was to see whether that was what 6 wanted to do – I already knew it was what A wanted!
In the end, we stayed for pretty much all of the three weeks – with a brief foray home to collect clean underwear and emergency clothing for those of us who had expected to be home on Monday or Tuesday!
Our assigned stations were: L to the gentry pavilion, where she was Mistress Jane de Vere, in navy wool, blue velvet and green brocade, K to the stewards, as Hugh de Vere, page, J, once he joined us, as Richard Clopton, minor gentry and musician, Bob on the butts, A, 6 and I in the cotte. 6 soon discovered the joys of basket making, however, and went off with C quite happily for a few days to spend her time making baskets (one for herself and one for L). After a while, though, the basketmakers became too crowded and 6 came back to the cotte, returning just to finish the basket she was on. By now Em and her children were there, including E, who was rapidly making a name for herself in the woolshed as being a spinner of particularly fine thread. She took 6 with her to have a go at using a drop spindle and that was the last we saw of her for the rest of the week, apart from dinnertime when both girls would appear with their bowl and spoon to see whether our offerings were better than the general pottage, then, tummies full, quietly disappear again. Her first skein may have been a little loose and lumpy, but 6 was still very proud to dunk it in the dyers’ vat and turn it blue. The second was better and became yellow, then overdyed with blue to make green, while the third was better still – practice may not have made perfect yet, but definitely makes improvement 🙂
Meanwhile L was doing her best to support Bess on a station distinctly lacking in numbers in week one but rather healthier in week two. She exchanged her fancy gown for a rather less fancy petticote/kirtle on a couple of occasions, so that she could help out in the kitchens (still at the visiting gentry pavilion) and have a little more freedom – no need for a companion on every journey, for a start – but on the whole still enjoys being gentry, especially when she gets the chance to dance, sing or play the rebeck. The final Wednesday of the Event was a Home Ed day, when the players found themselves in need of a drummer and the pavilion was closed in any case, so the scummy kirtle came out again and off she went to play with the players 😀
K had a whale of a time being a page, including lots of chess playing, a fair bit of tour guiding, a number of trips out on the moat with the punt and enough singing to earn himself the sobriquet “The singing page” 😀
J spent more time playing the recorder than the sackbutt, but enjoyed both as well as the odd game of chess – and definitely found it easier to be in the house for such a hot week than it would have been had he been outside in the sun; he doesn’t do well with heat, sun or suncream and his hayfever is starting to rival mine for intensity, poor lad 🙁
Bob had fun on the butts, although I’m not sure how much actual shooting he got to do in between all the talking and letting other people have a go, and the cotte was, as ever, a cool(ish) and dark(ish) place to be on even the hottest day – although having to build up the fire for cooking was at times a bit of a penance! We missed M very much 🙁 but were happy to have guests for dinner each day, including Nat (although I think the multitude of small children scared him at times!), Mistress Joan of the pinmakers, Long Meg the storyteller and on a couple of very memorable occasions Mad Jack, who decided to tell Long Meg a story and ended up talking “Spanish” with such high-pitched goobledegook that it sent A and Joan off into peals of laughter and giggles which needed just a little reminder to set them off again and again all afternoon 😆 We couldn’t persuade my father to leave his clock and come to dinner, but he did send his apprentice and we managed a few times to send food back for him which we thought he might actually eat…
I’m sure there’s far more I could say. I may return, or start another post, but for now this will do – Kentwell 1559: a good year 🙂
