(Actually, we were pretty lucky with the weather this weekend, but when have I ever let reality get in the way of a good title)
This isn't Mary Arden's house, in Wilmcote. It's indeed a very nice old house in the parish of Wilmcote, a stone's throw from the Stratford Canal, but Shakespeare's mother grew up, it is thought, in the slightly less spectacular one next door. Nevertheless, it forms part of a
rather endearing complex that represented our one monetary dalliance with the local bardic tourist industry.
You can read more, by clicking on the bit that says 'read more'...
Thankfully there's little enough of the S-word bloke, but plenty of good, practical examples of how a farm (including a relatively wealthy family) would have operated in Tudor times. There were animals:
more animals (and people in period, yet practical, dress)
(I turned my back for a moment, to find Carrie happily communing with the horse. I consider myself lucky we didn't bring a goat home...)
and plenty of domestic aspects that aren't that far removed from the way some of us live (or would be happy living) today. A familar style of loo, for a start:
herbs drying by the range:
Alas I failed to take a picture in the main kitchen, busy cooking vegetable pottage for the staff, as it was full of people (although I think we made them burn the onions). We missed out on the Archery, but did watch the falconry, which looked more like owlery to me:
Those hats are called 'statute' hats, apparently because they were to be worn by statute on Sundays. Not sure if it would suit me, but I'd give it a go, anything that keeps my head warm in winter...
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