In At The Deep End

Kentwell was fab - and blogged so well by Michelle that I shan’t really bother except to say that we saw Rebecca, J and R and that was lovely Oh, and the car petered out on the A11 sliproad, which was less lovely, but it started again after a few minutes, so could have been worse.

On Saturday the Rainedrops departed, much to the distress of our lot - we must get organised and meet up over the summer There were about 5 things we could have done that day, but I don’t think we did any of them in the end; none of us deal well with too much choice

Monday was CHEF sport, which L decided she would like to try, since J would not be doing it. Unfortunately the traffic was bad, so L and K missed a fair chunk of their session, but enjoyed it anyway, while J played with J who was also off sport, thanks to surgery. We ended up staying rather longer than expected, but decided not to go to the park as well since J was rather tired and the weather didn’t look promising. It’s not the same without Susan and K anyway. We were waiting for a call from a friend to say that lots of Suma stuff had arrived and we should go and pick it up, so didn’t really want to go home and then have to turn around and come back. Gina came to the rescue with an offer of playing at their house, which turned into lunch - just as the other friend phoned and asked if we’d like lunch there, so we could have had two lunches that day Picked up lots of Suma stuff, then talked briefly about dog-sitting and whether we might be able to do it for them as kennels wanted £17.50 a day, plus £25, plus this plus that - and our children have been desperate for a dog since before we moved so we thought this might be a good opportunity to see how it would suit us
Stayed there longer than planned too, so ended up having to squeeze Bob in with the soya milk and huge bags of flour, sugar and oats (sorry if any of your cartons are squished Gina!) as we dashed to the dentist, where we were all congratulated on nice teeth, Bob had a quick clean and A refused to open her mouth at all. Ah well!
Tuesday was swimming, which J could not do, but neither could J (there are too many Js!) so they sat together while the rest of us went in. Yet again there was no teacher *sigh* so I ended up handing A over to someone else in the toddler pool and going in with the children who should have been having a lesson. We started off doing the usual across the pool type stuff, then got out some woggles and used those to practise kicking alone and then in pairs, but fairly soon we all decided it was best for most of them to just have fun with the floats while I helped one or two at a time to do lengths. Fun, but not ideal - although at least they got to stay there for longer, since the improver class was very small and also had no teacher so they just joined in
After swimming we drove to a car park and collected a large dog with a new collar tag (the children watched it being engraved with or phone number), some worming tablets (giving those to a dog is soo much easier than thrusting them down our cats’ throats ), a large bed, lots of blankets and towels and a huge sack of food. We had a quick demo of how to use the halti and then K jumped in the boot with our (temporary) new golden retriever, Joy. As soon as we got home we had to run in, leaving K in the car with Joy, and stuff the cats into their travel basket so that Bob could take them to the vet for poorly-timed boosters. Not ideal for them to meet Joy from inside a plastic box, but otherwise we feared they would hide and we would not be able to find them an hour later when it was time to go Then we took Joy for her first walk in the field at the back of the house, with the children taking it in turns to hold the lead once we’d established that she was not going to pull them over. K even very nobly picked up her poo, when I pointed out that if they wanted to have their own dog they would have to do that. I was impressed!

On Wednesday we were carless, while the garage tried to work out why the car has been cutting out again. Once again, it seems to be the computer sensor bit getting itself in a muddle for no real reason - apparently a common fault with Zafiras - so not a lot they can do about it. They reset the computer error thingie (highly technical, I know) just in case it was still showing the old message from last year when we had the same problem and said to go back when it did it again. So we had the car back in time to go and pick Bob up from his late meeting. We could have made it to the Gymnastics competition too, but J couldn’t have taken part and K wasn’t sure he wanted to, so they both decided they would rather go pond-dipping with the Cubs instead. Since J was only allowed to go with an adult to accompany him, thanks to cast, Akela said K could go too So we picked Bob up, shovelled down a quick tea and they scooted off to the pond while L, A and I pootled.

Thursday was Tots and Nots, where we did lots of fun Aztec related things, including making masks, cooking and eating tortillas and a chocolate tasting Rebecca, J and R came along too and we finished really late, but having had a great time - and still only done about half the things Gina and I had talked about for Aztecs, so with activities ready for next week

J came back from A and E with a collar and cuff, feeling fine. Apparently the X-ray was quite fun and the machine made a noise like a helicopter, which was “quite reassuring, actually”. We propped him up with pillows and he slept fine, didn’t need painkillers the next morning and was happy to come along to Tots as normal. It was an unexpectedly busy session, although J and J were both taking it easy, and we had a few new families and a few older children come along. Plans are afoot for encouraging the older ones to come along sometimes so that we can have more of an all-age feel and something for our older ones to grow into
We ended up staying for lunch and then chat and didn’t get home until well into the afternoon, arriving back just as Barbara phoned to say their car was not going to be ready and they wouldn’t make it after all Quick racking of brains led to lots of looking up of train times, prices and destinations - we were not going to give up easily! In the end, I think less than four hours elapsed between that phone call and the Rainedrops getting a local train from unmanned station to bigger station, where they could get a railcard (and many thanks to the rail official who sorted that out, sold them a ticket and still gave them time to get to the right platform in the 7 (8?) minutes they had to spare between arrival and departure!) and then catch the train to a station near enough to us to make Bob going out to collect them at 10 o’clock at night a sensible proposition even in a slightly dodgy car (which confirmed my mistrust by cutting out on them just a few hundred yards from home, but fortunately decided to start up again happily enough). They got here at about 11 and the little ones were whisked straight off to bed while the grown-ups stayed up far too late chatting!
J’s fracture clinic appointment on Friday morning looked likely to cause problems and J was keen to just postpone it, as the nurse had said he could do if he was coping well with cuff and collar. He clearly was coping very well, but the degree of swelling worried me a little so we thought it best to get it over with since we had an appointment anyway. Since we had ten people and only 7 car spaces transport was going to be a problem anyway; the plan to use our car for KH and the Rainedrop car for either fracture clinic or extra bodies to KH having been scuppered by it not being mended in time we needed to think again. Bob thought he had hired a small car online, but when we phoned to confirm on Friday morning it turned out that they didn’t have any left to hire, so we had to do a bit more frantic googling and then ringing round and eventually found a company which had a car available but only from 10 or 10:30 (clinic app’t 10:15) Looked again at their website and realised they offered a pick up service, so asked if they would be willing to pick up from the hospital… Not only were they willing to do that, and to do it at an uncertain time (whenever the app’t over) but their rates were about 2/3 everyone else’s, with no extra charge for pick-up Yay!
By now we should have been leaving for KH, but I still had to take Bob and J plus one to the hospital. Bob decided he was willing to brave taking A, as she would be least bothered by missing KH and if she did start to wail then that might encourage people to do things for them faster at the clinic so I dropped off man, boy, babe, sling and car seats and then dashed back home, flung random picnic type food into a bag while Barbara strapped assorted children into the car and we set off, hoping for decent roads and patient friends. We got both
Kentwell was fab (I shan’t go into it now or we’ll miss swimming!) but the news from Bob a bit grim: the consultant (seen after a half hour or so wait) felt that J’s arm needed to be in plaster, which meant another wait for an X-ray, then back to wait for consultant again, then off to plaster room… We had decided that the cut-off point for it being worth coming to join us at KH was probably 1:45, meaning they should be there by about 3 for a couple of hours of looking around before driving back. Bob phoned at 1:35 to say that they were just waiting for the hire car pick-up. At 3:30, starting to worry, I phoned his mobile to see where they were, to get (from J) the unexpected answer “Sudbury.” “Why are you in Sudbury?!” “Er, I don’t know… Daddy, why are we in Sudbury?” Apparently the roads were not so good for them, then they got rather low on petrol, missed a turning somewhere on the way to the petrol station suggested by someone they stopped to ask… Anyway, they got there just in time to get in before last entry at 4 and were able to join us at the alchemists’ copse J looked in good form, considering, with an impressive amount of bandage and a back slab cast, awaiting more plaster on Monday morning. A was very pleased to see me
All in all, a very pleasant day, in lovely company (we managed to combine seeing three different families we don’t really see enough of ) and with a lot less hassle than we feared at times!

Okay, this post has sat here waiting to be finished for too long. I’m going to publish now and do the rest later!

so may as well spend some time catching up here

Monday was quiet, with lots of nothing much (although K has now reached level 4 stage 10 of BBC dance mat typing ) until E arrived for a sleepover This served the double purpose of making my children and E very happy and saving her from a horribly early start and then a day in hospital waiting for her brother to have surgery. A video bribe got them all snuggled into bed on time, but then they chatted a bit too long and too loudly and we ended up putting L into our bed to break up the party a bit. Having saved E from an early start, I think she got one anyway, as I heard voices before 6 and they were all well and truly up by 7. Ho hum. Tuesday was correspondingly a rather touchy kind of day, although I think they all had fun anyway. We got to swimming in plenty of time, only to find that there was no teacher. The lifeguards looked at one another for a few minutes, wandered round the building a couple of times, asked us if we were expecting Fiona (err, no, it hasn’t been her for a while, but recently it keeps changing) and then finally one of them announced that he was Ben, he was also a teacher and he proposed to do the lesson, if that was alright with us. It was, so he did. We looked at the time and decided to split what was available between the two classes, so the first one would start late and finish not quite so late and the second start late and finish on time, but both would miss out a little. He dropped the pool depth (last week it was stupidly shallow) and asked the kids to slide into the water to check it was okay, which it was. Then he took one look at how small most of them were and jumped in himself, shorts, tee-shirt and all I couldn’t help this week, as I had A tied to my chest, but I stayed at the edge and called encouragements, which seemed to help a bit, if only by telling him their names Ben proved to be great, actually. He chivvied them just enough, splashing the ones who were being precious about getting wet and helping the ones who were falling behind in a way which made it fun rather than humiliating. I do think for children this little and inexperienced a teacher in the water is the way to go. A helping adult in the water as well is even better - if Vix can’t do it regularly then perhaps I need to find an Anna sitter…
No news from J’s parents so we brought E back with us and had lunch, then watched a video (Cheaper by the Dozen) as everyone was flagging a bit. Halfway through the video E and L started to do somersaults on, off and over the settee, so I guess they still had some energy! Then we replaced the trampoline bungee, played in the sandpit, rearranged the climbing frame, pulled weeds out of the patio and generally pottered in the garden until Bob got home and ’s dad came to pick her up. At which point we fed the kids and bundled them into bed early, hoping for a less crabby day today
The morning went by in a whoosh of nothing much (again), then we picked up a parcel (assorted French resources and a Junior Scrabble game ) and went to a nearby town for a HE trip to a fire station. There was to have been a meet at a park first, but since it was raining nobody was there and we spent the time looking for a mobile phone accessories shop instead, trying and failing to find a replacement charger for my phone (it might be useful for KH trip on Friday to have a phone I can use!) and eating lunch on the hoof. When we got to the fire station there seemed to be rather few of us and we had to ask the fireman who was waiting to start the talk to wait a bit longer, as we were sure there should be more people. We were just about to give up and start anyway when they arrived - having been at someone’s house in the next street they were bound to all be later than those of us who had come further Will try to get the boys to help me write about the tour. It was fun and we have photos The high point for the children was the very end, when they uncurled a hose and let the children all have a go at squirting it. Of course they all got soaked, but they had a great time!
Everything finished just about in time for us to throw damp children into the car and rush back for gymnastics, which brings us back to the title. J and K did the warm-ups and about half of the activities, then J fell on his elbow (embarrassingly out of a soft play barrel, not off the p-bars or anything exciting like that) and ended up in the office with ice on it while the manager came to fetch me. He was desperately upset, not helped by being so tired to start with, and it was very hard to see whether he was really in as much pain as he appeared to be iyswim. He fell on the outside of the joint, but the pain and swelling were on the inside. Fingers all working fine and able to grip, but lots of pain and whingeing if asked to lift arm at all We decided to come home as soon as K’s session over, keeping it iced in the meantime (only 5 minutes or so anyway) and then see whether we needed to drop off excess children and go to A&E or to leave it and see. He should have been at Cubs for investiture this evening so not a happy bunny Got home to find Bob had cooked tea and J was hungry so we ate tea and then had another look at the elbow. Much more swollen now Strapped it for him (with a strip of hemp terry bought for nappy making as the bandages got absorbed into some dressing up a while ago and haven’t been replaced ) which he said helped, and then decided it was better to get him to A&E now and be sure, rather than wait and possibly have to miss out on going to KH. They left over 2 hours ago and I’ve not heard anything…

Oh joy. It’s a probable broken elbow He has a cuff and collar for now and the earliest appointment available for fracture clinic is Friday morning…

or vice versa

Wednesday was a day with nothing planned apart from Gymnastics and Cubs. We could have been doing Drama, which I know the boys would have loved, but I decided at the beginning of a new term of it that it was too far to travel really and that free time is more valuable to us just now. Besides which, this term we’d have had to miss as many as we made, which is silly. Still, I know a few people were away this week so we could probably have gatecrashed and I did consider it, but we were all too tired to bother really, and then a courier arrived with this which is supposed to be the children’s Christmas present but looked so good we started it straight away It’s good, but not quite as great as I’d hoped from all I’ve heard about it, tbh. I suspect there could be a lot of play value in it as the children get the hang of it - and more if we find someone else who also has a set and put them together some time
We had to pop out to pick up a parcel and some bits for lunch so did that while I had the energy, but by lunchtime I was feeling decidedly ropy, so when A slept I dozed in front of Wimbledon, while J, K and L flitted about and amused themselves We got to Gymnastics on time, although I’m not quite sure how as J was still hunting for his Cubs uniform 5 minutes after we would normally have left the house. The boys looked to be having a good time, while L and A pottered and munched (A works her way through vast quantities of fruit each time the boys are at the gym ) and L played on Cooking Mama 2 and chatted to the older girls waiting for their gymnastics session. Then we dashed back home to eat a superfast tea, but not quite fast enough (stir fry, with rice pudding which we left for later as we ran out of time) and set off at about the time we should have been arriving at Cubs. It was only a Rounders session, though, so not a problem, and K, L, A and I stayed to watch and play in the (school) playground rather than trying to get home and back again in the time left. J hit the ball a couple of times, I was relieved to see and seemed to be enjoying himself even though it was the first time he has ever played a proper game of rounders (we’ve tried at home, but it’s tricky with so few people and such a large proportion of them tiny!), but I spent the time getting progressively more bunged up and sneezy
Came home and ate rice pudding (yum!) then managed to get children to bed eventually, swallowed anti-histamines in an attempt to convince myself I only had hayfever and got myself to bed too.

On Thursday I would happily have stayed in bed, and I think the children would have been fine with that too, but we had to get to Tots because the father of one our toddlers worked on the Phoenix lander mission and was coming in specially to give us a talk I took Lemsip and antihistamines to cover all bases and get us there The A14 was slow and then the car cut out in a scary (and horribly familiar) way, but fortunately recovered itself and got us there safely.
Once we got there the children were happy and apparently the talk was good (and they did some cool craft too) but I had to stay in the hall in case any other families arrived so missed it and gradually felt worse and worse as the morning wore on and the drugs wore off Drove home in a bit of a blur and realised halfway that I probably wasn’t safe to drive, but no option really…
Got home and took A straight to bed, where we both slept. J was a star and kept the others occupied for me, then helped me get tea (pasta and jar - very easy option ) and they all got themselves ready for bed, then we snuggled in the big bed together until they were each sleepy enough to go to their own bed. Bob got back about 11, I think.

On Friday we had planned to go for a walk and a picnic with Emma and her boys, but just as I was thinking I should phone and cancel she phoned me to say one of the boys was ill so they needed to cancel anyway. So we had another lazy day - we tidied the children’s room so that we could hoover it and then they used the big empty space thus created to build Megafort structures While I dozed In the afternoon J tried out a new PC game while K and L played and A and I dozed And sneezed. And blew my nose.
We had expected to see Big Alice (with the invalid tent) but put her off because I really didn’t feel like seeing anyone (hope she wasn’t offended) so when Bob got home I ran myself a nice hot bath in an attempt to unbung my ears and nose a little (didn’t work, but the children were thrilled to have a nice deep bath to play in after I got out) while he cooked tea for children, then we had takeaway curry (another attempt, which worked a little) once the older three were in bed. A was still very much around, though, so we had to pay the baby tithe

On Saturday I had hoped to get to slingmeet but decided against it, in hopes that a quiet morning would mean enough energy for a party in the evening. Bob took J and K to their first astronomy club meeting, which they loved, and L, A and I pottered - and built a Mega Castle Then when Bob got back I went back to bed - sensing a theme here? It worked though, and I had enough energy to enjoy the party when it came around It was a big joint affair, beginning at 4 with children’s stuff, then morphing via food into a more grown-up party, with very cool live music I got to cuddle several babes of various sizes, including slinging a couple and demoing wrapping (then lending a wrap ) while the children also had a good time and Bob enjoyed newborn cuddles - one of his favourite things I faded out a bit in the middle, but rallied and then my second big fade coincided with Bob’s realisation of how late it was so we made our departures - thanks Gina and Dave - we had lots of fun

Today Bob took A, K and J to church, while L and I stayed at home (which meant L got computer time and I got to doze again) but then J decided he was so tired he couldn’t make it all the way home on foot, so I had to throw clothes on and go and pick them up in the car. Quick lunch, then the children watched Flubber while Bob pottered and I alternated pottering and reading - yay! I must be feeling better to have enough energy to read!

Hopefully tomorrow I might be able to make it through a whole day without dozing…

J has been a real sweetie while Bob was away
On Tuesday he brought me breakfast in bed: a biscuit iced (with writing icing) with a M for Mummy
On Wednesday it was a meringue with cream and an almond on top
Thursday was Tots so I was up first and he didn’t have time to bring me breakfast, then Bob was back on Friday (yay!) and today was almost anticlimactic, as he brought me a bowl of Fruit and Fibre, albeit with an interesting orange plastic spoon
He’s desperate to be allowed to use the kettle on his own, but for now I’m still saying he can use it as long as there is an adult in the room as well - not so much because I don’t trust him in using it, but because I am concerned about the others getting splashed - and I can’t forget the time that he did use it (without permission) and left the (cordless) kettle on a chair (why???) where K and L found it and L ended up with hot (fortunately nowhere near boiling, but hot enough to give her a shock) water all over her hand Am I being overly cautious? Apparently I was cooking fried breakfasts at 5, but then when I lived with my grandparents they were (understandably) hugely over-protective in this respect and I was not allowed to touch things like hot kettles or pans until I was at least 10

Weather-wise, today we’ve had sun, torrential rain, hail, thunder, lightning and fog.

Tonight, I was sat with my two colleagues (one American, the other Polish) in an Australian-themed bar, eating Indian food. We were watching Germany play Turkey in Euro 2008.

We left at half time in order to get a taxi and avoid any nastiness. By this point all our predictions for the score were already wrong (me Germany winning 2-0, Rafal Germany winning 1-0, Jeff Turkey winning 2-0)

Someone sat at the next table to us had a nice surf T-shirt on, I think from Hawaii. It had some English writing on the back, including:

• He who dies with the most toys, still dies.
• Speak softly, but wear a loud shirt.
• There are two ways to become rich: get more or desire less.

In the taxi on the way home we caught part of the second half because the taxi driver had a small portable flat screen TV thing propped up on the dashboard on top of the meter. We got home safely nonetheless, and Germany have just squeaked through 3-2.

Monday was a day of mooching. Bob left shortly after 8, later than usual but still before most of us were up (except L) and then we took our time to eat breakfast, watch tv, play in the garden, put on washing, read books, play on computer etc etc. I don’t think any of us actually got properly dressed A day of recovery, I guess. We did read Medecin d’un jour, which had arrived while we were away, so I guess that counts for something Oh and J dictated his account of what he got up to at KH; he’s hoping First News might publish it, but we’ve not heard anything yet
Today was swimming, so we dedicated the morning to lounging around and looking for swimmers. Nina and the Neurons came in somewhere too. L had a go at lessons today, so all 3 of them were in together, and I went in to help once there was someone able to take A for me. I think I arrived just in time for the teacher’s sanity He was giving them all numbers and as I got there he asked “OK, so who’s a number 1?” and almost all of them raised a hand. Sighing, he tried again, “Who’s number 2?” and again most of the hands went up - at which point he gave up and just let me deal with fielding the excess ones when he said go There were a lot of little ones today…
We stayed in the toddler pool for a fair while afterwards, then went to DB with Gina and co, where I failed to remember what I needed to buy, but got some bits for lunch anyway, then we went to the park and watched the children play for ages Suddenly realised how late it was, went back to DB, where I again failed to remember anything I needed and then came home, via the Coop to pick up eggs as J had decided he wanted to cook tea and it was going to be omelettes As well as eggs I found some meringues and strawberries on special offer, so in the end J cooked omelettes (in the microwave so he could do them pretty much unaided ) while I stir-fried veg to go with them, then we had strawberries and cream with meringues - A the fruit bat pinched half of my strawberries but at least was making “more please” noises rather than just screeching for more! Very nice
After tea I had to feed A, so the others took themselves off upstairs, ostensibly to get ready for bed, but in fact to prepare a surprise for me. A fell asleep and I managed to put her on the bed, so was able fully to appreciate their handiwork. The entire bathroom wall above the sink is now covered in decorations and patterns, done in soap crayons (thanks Alice!) and the utterly disarming message that I am the best Mummy in the whole world. How could I be cross, especially when J put his arms around me and said “It’s true, Mummy!”? They want it to stay there, but I’m worried the colour will set if left too long, so have promised to take photos before cleaning it off. I think it can stay until tomorrow though - I could use the boost
And so to bed…

Not sure where I was up to, but Monday seems a good place to pick up
We made pottage with roots and worts, lentil pottage and a mess of eggs for workers and cheesy farts for us (not enough crumb to make them for everybody) - started to get a few people coming to ask if they could eat with us even though not assigned, as they’d heard it was good - flattering but cheeky! We tended to say no as cooking for 50 over an open fire is already a challenge, but said they were welcome to come by and see if any left over
Started grain soaking for frumenty, to be made on Tuesday with wheat grain, milk, eggs, butter, honey and dried fruit - although in the event we forgot the dried fruit and used very ripe nectarines instead It was nice - interesting to see varied responses from school children (if they bring spoons then they can try food) as it was definitely not sweet enough for most modern palates if they expected a pudding. Pottage gets similarly mixed reactions - a surprising number really like it, but a few cannot stand it at all. When schools had no spoons then we tried to find something else they could try: dried apple rings, lemon balm or mint posset, leaves of herbs from the garden, even slices of carrot - tones of wonderment: “It tastes just like normal carrot!” Nothing like a full multi-sensory experience
We had a couple of patches of rain, which the tent stood up to very happily, and it was very cold at night most of the time, so we were glad to huddle together and drape cloaks over our sleeping bags. Getting children out of cosy sleeping compartment in the mornings grew progressively harder, however…
Wednesday and Friday were free-flow days, so early start as visitors arrive from 9:15 and can then go where they like but also late finish as they can go back and revisit as much as they want. Some nice groups, but also a couple of very large groups of teenagers who lumped around a bit and whose accompanying adults wanted to stay together - a shame as the beauty of free flow days is that small groups can move around more and so learn more and do things which interest them; large clumps of teens tend to just congeal!
It was nice to have a few children who were clearly special needs/learning disabled and equally clearly getting lots out of their day. History must be a very difficult concept in isolation, whereas experiencing it, hearing, seeing, tasting and touching brings it to life. Confusing for a few, but still fun, I think. I remember way back when I used to do KH we had a group of blind children and adults come round and it was brilliant thinking of ways they could experience everything
Saturday was a changeover day, with new participants arriving but old ones still around. This should have meant we were overstaffed in the cotte (having been understaffed all week) but actually left us with extra mouths to feed and no more people, as the new arrivals decided to let us get on with it. It was nice in a way and we managed to produce good pottage and the most delicious fromenty ever - and fed 60 + with half a serving of pottage left over - and also to make gingered bread in the afternoon but it was hard work!
The evening was to be summer solstice celebrations, so each station spent much of the morning preparing a green man - cotte had two as the children picked up on the idea of a green man to be burned on the fire and made a lovely one - very green but totally missing the point So we ended up with an adult one too, who very clearly made the point but also another point as his creator was in the middle of a divorce and took great delight in ripping strategic bits off the man to throw into the flames separately
The fire itself was rather graphic and the children thought it hilarious that there were so many willies everywhere! We had the story of the King of Oak and the Man of Holly and their battle, while the wheel of the seasons turned ever onwards, then all the green men were thrown on the fire and the musicians struck up for lots of dancing round the fire and in complicated circles and threads behind and then through the lines of dancers - lots of great pictures here to give you an idea. We took the children off to bed at about 10 but the revelry continued long into the night.
Since we knew by now that Biob would be leaving for Germany first thing on Monday morning we decided that it would be more sensible to pack up on Saturday night/Sunday morning and then leave as soon as we could on Sunday. In the event, I ended up on station in the morning as we were still short-handed, while the boys had a day off from the schoolroom and Bob went back to the campsite to pack up the tent. High winds overnight meant it was all nice and dry (and we were very cosy inside - I’m very impressed with the design) but sadly overenthusiastic help from other campers means we now have a tear in the canvas which I have not yet seen so have no idea how patchable it will be (sorry Helen) I’ve no idea how it happened but I’m cross because I loved the tent and want to use it again! It will be returned to us on Friday, I think (Alice took the tent in her car on the way back, leaving K to travel with us) so I’ll look at it then and see what I can do.
Meanwhile K and L did a bit of spoonmaking (still rather a lot of sanding to be done) and I took J to the butts to have a go at archery. He needs to grow a few more muscles but is now very keen to find an archery club, get his own bow etc etc
We then did some sneaky quick changes in random places and snuck out while everyone was watching the muster Got home in time for tea and baths, then bed for children and packing for Bob…

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

Mad rush of preparation, as ever, added to in some ways and made better in others by having Big Alice here on Friday night so that she could travel with us on Saturday, definitely added to by my uncle and aunt coming round for a visit and to deliver my mother’s bureau, which fits nicely in the front room, and totally added to by J having a music theory exam on the Saturday morning! Many thanks to Gina and Dave for having him over for a sleepover, which meant we did not need to take him to the exam, and then adding to their helpfulness by collecting him and giving him lunch and taking him with them to their next engagement so that we did not need to collect him until en route to Kentwell
Big Alice took K in her car, so we could fold down the whole of the boot and thereby fit in all our stuff without having to use a roof box. It was also much easier this year since we were only packing for Kentwell and not trying to squeeze in everything we would need for a week at Kessingland afterwards.
Anyhoo…
We arrived on Saturday afternoon, in that usual very light drizzle which always seems to come out of a totally cloudless sky as soon as you park and begin to unload a tent Ignoring it we checked in and pitched the tent anyway, feeling slightly smug when the large frame tent (thanks HH ) took less time to put up than all the dome and tunnel tents around us. The children helped a bit, flitting between Alice and us as they tried to decide whose jobs looked more fun, and we all had “helpers’ chocolate” then unloaded sleeping bags etc and set up ready for the evening. By the time we had walked to the house we were a little late for tea (mostly because we had been expecting it to be late on the first day but it wasn’t) and unfortunately got there just as the veggie option ran out, so the children got spinach and mushroom lasagne while the adults got leftover spinach and mushroom filling with cheese grated on top - either way not a great option for the three of us ho don’t eat mushrooms, although good news for K, Bob and Alice, who do Usual exchanges of news, meetings and greetings, then time to wash up (the practically-patented 5 bowl washing up system not yet in place, so all a bit random) and head back to the tent for what was meant to be an early night but didn’t turn out that way.
Sunday morning seemed to start too early, but we managed to get everyone into kit and down to the undercroft in time for porridge, toast and beans, then washed up (5 bowl system - yay!) and over to the Cott to report in and drop stuff off, then back to the house to deliver the boys to the schoolroom and sign bits of paper saying they remained our responsibility whatever happened. Somewhere along the line I put Bob’s lenses in for him (one week a year is not enough to get used to doing it, it seems) and we had a quick check to make sure all signs of 21st century life were removed or covered.
Weekends are public days, when visitors come onto the manor from around 11 and stay until about 5:30, which makes for quite a long day as they could appear at any time so you must always be in role. In the cotte we had pottage to cook, but no list of which stations we should be feeding or how many people to expect. In the end we estimated 2 score and 10 and cooked enough (pottage, pease pudding and a dish of worts) for a few more just in case, then rang the pottage bell and walked about asking all those we thought might be assigned to the cotte if they knew where they should be eating. We must have served about 60 as well as ourselves (a dozen or so, including children) and we had run out by the time the potters arrived, saying that they had been assigned to the cotte for the first time in 20 years and did we have anything left. Then a few more randoms arrived, whom we also had to turn away A front sward sottler arrived to ask if we knew what was going on, as the potters had gone back to them for pottage with the result that they had now also run out, and we worked out that between us we had fed about 40 more people than expected! At least they had a copy of the list, so we were able to see who should have been eating at the cotte, which made things easier for the rest of the week. It was almost a relief, though, when there turned out not to be enough supper that night and the catering manager complained that he had fed 60 more people than he had expected - at least we had been counting correctly and the fault was not really ours!
By the time we had had supper each evening (served from 6:30; families with children under 8 able to queue-jump, thank goodness) and then washed up and walked back to the campsite there was no such thing as an early night, even before any evening entertainments were added in, so the first Monday was already a struggle in terms of getting children up and about in time On weekdays breakfast is served from 7:30 - 8:30 and the first school party enters between 9:15 and 9:30, so everything is a bit more of a rush. They follow a set route, however, so the actual day on station/in role is shorter because you have a rough idea of when each group will get to you and you know that once they have gone past they are unlikely to return. Since bookings are down this year and lots of groups needed to be back at school in time for coaches to turn into school buses there were quite a few days when the last party came in not long after lunch and left by 4:30, which meant a very early finish for those early on in the route; the cotte was about a third of the way round the manor route so would be clear of visitors by 2:30, although still on view from a distance. It was a good time to fetch vegetables, wash up, walk about a little and also get a head start on onion chopping for the next day.
I’m hoping J will write his own account of what they did in the schoolroom; I have heard snippets of things like “We learned how to slit a Spaniard open and pull his guts out!” and I know they did heraldry, learned a few prayers and some Latin phrases and ate wine gums but judging by the little books they have each bought home there must have been much more besides
Evening ents were better than I remember from last year, but still not as varied and organised as I remember from my old KH days, many summers since. We had Tudor games, a campfire singsong for the children (and brewhouse/bakehouse version for the adults) and of course the great Summer Solstice celebrations, including making and then burning a variety of station-specific green men, most with unfeasibly large phalluses (and try explaining that to small children!) and some impromptu dancing. Sadly the ceilidh we had been promised did not happen so I’m feeling rather hard done by - must find a ceilidh soon!
Washing machine now working its socks off, so I should go and hang out some washing while the weather is still good for drying…