Living History weekend at the Weald and Downland Museum

We hadn't been to the Weald and Downland Museum for years, and as this weekend was the Living History weekend, we decided to visit it on our way back from dropping the motor home in Sussex.  We were rather later than we meant to be, but arrived there about 13:30.  The first annoyance was that we were parked miles and miles from the entrance, but there was a buggy that kindly gave us a lift to it, so we didn't have to walk for miles before we got there.  Then we realised that, as it had been cool and cloudy when we left London, we didn't have sun-hats with us and only had a tiny bit of sun cream.  And it was hot and sunny, and hats would have been rather a necessity.  Sadly, the only ones on sale were either incredibly expensive or for children, so we had to do without.

We bought ourselves a venison burger for lunch (judging by the state of my insides this evening, this may have been a mistake), and then wandered off to see what we could see.  It was basically Re-enactor Heaven, including jousting, demonstrations of weapons from the Mediaeval period, and a great many crafts people, some of whom were better at talking about their work than others.  There was a fascinating man who made nets - I am not sure what period he was supposed to be, and didn't quite like to ask - and another woman who demonstrated 15th century food.

We ended up watching "Sir John Paston" have his dinner - ridiculously over-formal for Paston, who was, after all, only a jumped-up merchant.  Plus the squires were far too old - they would have been boys and young men not quite old enough to be knights.  But it gave a good impression of what it might have been like, although I think the women did eat with the men, at least at the high table, and there would have been lower tables where his people would have eaten.

Once that was over, it was almost the end of the afternoon, so we treated ourselves to an ice-cream and then the Swan Whisperer went to get the car, and we drove back to London via the A285 and A3, enjoying the sight of cricket matches on the village greens we passed - proper white flannels, not the pyjamas that international cricketers seem to wear these days!