Hearth & Home

On the 23rd and 24th August 2023, we invited local families to our newly revamped outdoor space to consider….How did we do things before we had electricity?

We got hands-on with investigating our local history, trying out things like…

• Making and using ancient paints with Arteology

• Dying fabrics and wool with plants using a dye bath, a hammer and more

• Weaving willow fish (complete with long handle to swoosh it about with!)

• Striking coins (you can break them into halves and quarters to make change)

• Dipping rushes into tallow, melted on the fire, to make Victorian rush lights

• Grinding wheat in a stone quern to make flour, and making bread with it
  (baked on the fire, which we lit with a flint and steel)

• Carding wool and spinning it on a wheel or with a drop spindle to make skeins

• Cutting feathers into quills (and doing a spot of calligraphy….)

• Making tiny traditional dolls with fabric scraps, wool and twigs