Jackfield Tile Museum

The Jackfield Tile Museum, just across the River Severn is another good place to visit. We didn't do it this time, but back in October, we had a go at the tile decorating workshop.

You need to lay down a bead on your tile to shape your design and separate the areas of different glaze in the finished tile. So the first step is to practise doing that...

It's quite tricky. Look at that concentration from Little Miss!

The next step is to create your design. Now they've got loads of designs you can copy, (Little W and I chose a shooting star, Little Miss a penguin, and The Missus a fish) but Big Miss decided to do her own...

Yes! It's a Hungry Horse All-day Breakfast!

Then you have to put your design on the tile. Here is Little W getting some help.

Then you have to paint the tile with the glazes. The rest of us had to wait for ages for The Missus to finish all the little scales on her fish.

They don't look anything like the final colour as you paint them. But then you leave them to be fired for you, and a couple of weeks later they arrive through the post. Here are our completed Works of Art...

Lovely Job!

Weston Park (A Bit Rainy)

Today we went to visit Weston Park - not far from where we were yesterday. Our cunning plan was to get there early and explore outside before it got wet, then have lunch and then visit the house.

We went and found the maze...

It could do with growing a bit, but it was planted less than two years ago.

After an explore of the grounds we went to the woodland adventure playpark. The little ones ran towards it and, before we could stop them, had come down the slide. Oops. Two pairs of wet trousers. And they weren't going to dry in the sun today - the rain had started now. The special treat, though, was the miniature railway. Little W loves trains. At least in the station the train was dry.

We had lunch and did the tour of the house, doing both of the quizzes. The staff in each of the rooms were very helpful and friendly. I think they were glad to see us - I'm not sure they got any other visitors all afternoon.

Then a slight hitch in the cunning plan. Yes it was a cunning plan - about as good as one of Baldrick's - we still had to do the outdoor Easter trail. By the time we got to the last clue at Paine's Bridge...

...everything was getting pretty soggy - and so were we. But we solved the puzzle and the kids got an Easter Egg each. Here we are on the way back to the car with our booty...

No need to shout "Watch out for cars - you're in a car park" - ours was the only one.

Hungry Horses

The first time the kids came to The Barn we found an unexpected link between Madeley and Bury St. Edmunds. We went looking for somewhere to eat and came across a Hungry Horse pub, the Cuckoo Oak, with a lorry delivering Greene King IPA in the car-park - yes the chain is owned by Greene King.

Big Miss tried the All Day Breakfast that first time, and was so impressed that it has become a favourite. Back home, we have been to its sister pub The Greengage so she can have one as a birthday treat. So it was no surprise what she ordered when we went to the Cuckoo Oak again today. It is quite a plateful...

I don't know how she eats it all, but she does - she's not usually as hungry as a horse!

Boscobel House

"I don't want to go to school today", announced Little W at breakfast. He was worried that I would take him back to be taught by Mr Alsopp at Blists Hill again. Instead, we went to visit Boscobel House - famous as the place where the future Charles II sheltered for two nights in 1651 after the disasterous Battle of Worcester. It's pretty easy to get to - Turn North onto the A41 at J3 of the M54 and follow then turn right after half a mile at the brown sign, then turn right when you get to Bishops Wood - here.

We arrived just in time for one of the guided tours. Our guide really knew his stuff and described how the building today differs greatly from how it was in the 17th Century (and, in the process, explained the nursery rhyme Goosey Goosey Gander). There is also an exhibition room with panels telling the story of the future King's flight. Of added interest to us, of course, is that the story includes The Barn - young Charles set out to cross the River Severn into Wales, but found all the crossings guarded, sheltered for a while at The Barn in Madeley, and returned to Boscobel.

At Boscobel, Charles spent some time hiding in an oak tree - later named the Royal Oak. The fenced off oak you see today...

isn't actually the original. Nevertheless it does have a plaque designating it one of fifty Great British Trees. I reckon the Tea Party Oak back home is much more impressive.

Blists Hill Victorian Museum

Today we visited Blists Hill Victorian Town - in walking distance from The Barn. The reconstructed town is populated by craftsmen, shop-keepers and various interesting characters. Shortly after we arrived, we witnessed the policeman arresting a villain for attempting to pinch his bicycle. Here he is demonstrating the technique for 'feeling the collar' of the bounder...

We were treated to an entertaining lecture to the cad, who got most distressed when the copper threatened to tell his mother.

In the Grocer's shop window were these little chicks.

This was the theme of the Easter Hunt - 20 little yellow (model, not real) chicks were to be found around the site - write down where each of them is to be found and you win a lollipop.

Highlight of the day was the visit to the school. "But it's the holidays. We don't want to go to school", they protested when I asked them if they wanted to attend the 20 minute lesson with Mr Allsop, the headmaster.

He came out and rang his bell. I persuaded them to line up and we went in for a lesson. We were in trouble right from the start. "Who gave you permission to sit down?",he asked. We were reminded we were working class children and that we should know our place. Then we had to recite the school rules after him. Don't speak unless you are spoken to. Put your hand up if you want to speak. Stand up if you are selected to speak. And don't write with your left hand or you will turn out bad.

Fingernails were inspected. Oh dear. Big Miss (among others) had nail polish on! And some of the ladies were wearing jewelry. Tut. tut! If they came to school like that tomorrow it would be the cane for them!

We had to learn our 7 times table by repeating it after the headmaster. Then we had to learn some facts about the Iron Bridge and draw a picture of it on our slates. We were allowed out on condition that when we come back tomorrow, we would all be able to put our hands up to answer the question "What did you do yesterday to help a fellow man?"

"I don't want to go to school in Telford", said Little W afterwards. The girls agreed. I think they found it a bit strict. But it seemed to work. Little W is now a whizz at his 7 times table, and they can all remember 4 facts about the Iron Bridge!

In the afternoon we were treated to some street theatre by the Prince Albert Players. Great fun. And it wasn't just the visitors who watched...

It was interesting to compare this with the Tudor re-enactment we visited at Kentwell last week. Both good and both quite different. But I preferred the Tudors - I think it's because they were living their parts rather than performing them.

The Coalport Tar Tunnel

Here's something else we did yesterday, while we were at the Coalport China Museum. It is worth taking a few minutes and the short walk along the Shropshire canal to the Tar Tunnel.

You get to put on a safety helmet and go underground. If you are any taller than my lot, you will need to stoop, though - Big Miss is just about maximum height.

As you walk along the tunnel you can see the tar oozing out between the bricks. Watch where you put your feet and don't let your clothes brush the walls! About 50m into the hillside, you will find a couple of tar pools off to the side of the tunnel. You really do need to stoop down to see them, though.

We came back out and I inspected clothes and footwear. Phew! No tar stains. Otherwise we would have been in trouble!

Enginuity and the Egg-a-Pult Competition

The Ironbridge Gorge Museums site gives details of events that are on. So, having seen what is on, our first port of call was just down the hill to the Coalport China Museum where we did the Bear Hunt for Snowy the Polar Bear, while waiting for the china painting workshop to start at 11 am. Two trinket boxes are now awaiting firing and will be sent through the post. Look here in a couple of weeks for the results.

In the afternoon we went to Little W's favourite place - Enginuity, which is next to the Museum of Iron in Coalbrookdale. It doesn't look like much from the outside...

...but inside it is an Aladdin's Cave of interactive exhibits.

Find out how a little ingenuity will let you pull a 10 ton locomotive or generate electricity from flowing water. Look at familiar objects with new eyes using the giant X ray machine, build an earthquake proof tower and challenge our robotic arm.

The model valley with its dams, canals and various water lifting devices keeps Little W amused for hours.

Here he is generating some electricity to be released through a choice of 8 devices, to illustrate how different machines have different power consumptions.

My favourite is number 8, the flying pigs.

Meanwhile, the girls took part in the Egg-a-Pult competition. For £1, you get a kit of materials to make a catapult for throwing eggs. There are various models on show to copy, if you want, or you can design your own from scratch. We chose to copy one that looked like it might work well. Here they are with their completed machine...

Then you get to try it out. After two practice goes you are given 5 eggs to propel at a target with holes - get them through the holes and you score points. Well, of course they don't use real eggs (which is a shame - you can just imagine the gooey sticky mess that would result), but use ping-pong balls. Here goes...

Result: Score 60 points and a prize of 1 cream egg each. And we got to keep our Egg-a-pult!

Easter Fun at Nowton Park

The Ranger Service in Nowton Park, Bury St. Edmunds, runs a number of events. Here is their list of activities for Easter 2008.

(If you click the picture, you should be able to read the details). Today I took the little ones to do the Easter Trail, which is available 11am - 4pm and costs just £1. Little W did the junior version, which just requires 5 clues to be solved, while Little Miss did the full 20 questions. Here they are with their answer sheets and prize - predictably they both chose a Cream Egg.

So now we need to go and do our packing. Yes the kids are coming with me to The Barn for a few days.

Southwold

Southwold, on the Suffolk coast, is my favourite seaside town. It is ages since we had been, but we thought the weather might mean it wouldn't be too crowded for a Bank Holiday, so we took a day trip there. It's a little over an hour's drive from Bury St. Edmunds - down the A14 towards Ipswich and then either up the A140 to the A1102 tourist route to Yoxford and the A12, or straight along the A14, up the A12 and then turn right at the A1095. We took the main road route and got to the sea front before 10 am (parking is free from November to the end of March). We were right. It wasn't too busy.

The pier is well worth a visit, with its little shops and cafes. It also has an amazing water clock and a collection of wacky machines designed by Tim Hunkin in the Under-the-Pier Show. Little W loved the bathyscape, but my favourite is the Autofrisk machine...

... enhanced for 2008 to help fight the war on terror by the "US Department for Humourless Security".

It was odd to see snow at the seaside - even the roofs on the pier were covered. We found why the Easter Bunny didn't come to our garden in Bury St Edmunds yesterday - it was stuck frozen on the beach in Southwold...

We walked along the sea-front. Southwold is famous for its colourful beach huts. Some people have started using theirs already, but most were still closed up for the winter. We saw a few that had suffered from the winter storms and high-tides, but most of them seemed fine.

It started snowing as we were walking about. In the High St, we saw these hardy clog-dancers braving the weather.

We had a lovely lunch served by the smiling ladies of Squiers Tea Room, and I had an obligatory glass of someting else Southwold is famous for - Adnams beer (possibly my favourite). You can't not go to the vicinity of the Sole Bay Brewery without trying it!

After lunch, we did of course go onto the beach. We found several starfishes but the tide was in and quite high so there was limited beach to walk on except at the south of the town.

Walking North from the pier we went along the East Bavants Sea Wall. The path at the end is closed because of erosion from the sea - there's a house that looks as if it might not last much longer. You could feel the power of the waves hitting the wall...

Yes. It is definitely not summer yet. But Southwold is great to visit whatever the weather.

A Snowy Walk

"It's snowing! When can we go for a walk?", says Little W. "Right now!", I reply. So we all got wrapped up and headed off into the snow. It was still quite early and not many cars had been along Mount Rd.

It was coming down nice and steadily. We had nearly got to the Flying Fortress and Little W said "Can we go back now?".

With the addition of my scarf to keep his chin warm and sorting out his socks in his boots, we were able to go on.

In the fields we could see the hares haring about against the snow. "Let's go down this lane", said The Missus - just past the Flying Fortress we crossed Mount Rd and followed the lane to the railway. The level crossing is closed, but you can cross on foot. At the right hand bend we stopped. Right or Left? Well if we followed the road round I knew we would end up at Shinham Bridge cottages. So we went the other way along the bridleway to see where it took us. We found these rather sorry looking daffodils in the hedgerow along the way.

To avoid walking a long 200yards of the A143 we ended up doing a few yards through the long grass. "The snow is getting in my boots, Dad", said Little W.

But then we didn't have far to go - we were at the railway bridge at the bottom of Ortewell Rd, so it was just a matter of traipsing up the hill and round the corner to get back to where we started...

An excellent snowy walk. And then it was onto making the snowmen.

Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet

I'm not really a religious person, although I've done more than my fair share of performing sacred music. So, as it's Easter Sunday, here's little story about music and faith...

Now, if I leave early on a Sunday evening going back to The Barn, I listen to a BBC Radio 3 programme called The Choir, presented by Aled Jones. A few weeks ago, Aled's guest was the composer Gavin Bryars and he played a track from "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet". There is a rather touching story behind it and Gavin explained how it came about in 1971 (see here for the full story). In short, Gavin was involved in the sound track for a film about tramps. A number of them broke into drunken song while being interviewed, but there was one who was sober who sang a short improvised tune. It wasn't used in the film, but Gavin quite liked it and found it was in tune with his piano. So he took the singing and made a tape loop. The piece he created repeats the 13 bars over and over with a slowly evolving orchestral accompaniment.

Well Aled warned that listeners wouldn't be able to get the tune out of their head - and so it proved with me, so I just had to seek it out on the web. I found it here. There are 2 MP3 files, one with just the original loop of the tramp singing and then one with Tom Waits adding to it. I find it totally hypnotic, calming and uplifting.

Kentwell Hall - Tudor Re-enactment

Today we went to one of the famous Tudor Re-enactments at Kentwell Hall in Long Melford - about 20 minutes drive from Bury St Edmunds down the A134 to Sudbury (here). It's years since we last went, so it was about time. We arrived just after the 11am opening time, so were among the first people in.

"You must get some fish food", said the lady in the shop. So we did. The fish in the moat were really hungry, as you can see...

After having a go at the maze in the courtyard (Little W was the winner, but he might have cheated), we went inside the house. It was busy in the kitchen...

The Tudors are really chatty, but try to be authentic in conversation - they will profess ignorance to anything modern that's mentioned. They had some good advice for parents on how to bring up their children properly. "What they need is a sound beating twice a day", we were told. Hmm. Maybe I'll try that.

We went round the rest of the house, seeing the giant Easter Eggs in the dining room, being entertained by lute, viols and voice in the Hall, while young Alys was being taught a courtly dance, and getting a good view of topiary in the garden from the bedroom windows.

After an early lunch in the Undercroft, we continued through the garden to the Camera Obscura, nicely explained to us by a Tudor goodwife. The kids thought it was amazing to see the people outside walking upside down. "It's just like an upside-down television", said Little Miss.

There was lots going on in the old Moat House. In the dairy we saw some ladies making butter and cheese for Easter Sunday. In the bakehouse we saw them baking hot cross buns and in the Brewhouse we heard some more live music and saw a huge cauldron of Potage being cooked over an open fire.

Upstairs in the Solar, the girls were invited to help in stripping the rosemary into a pot, while Little W did some bashing of some nettle leaves with a large mortar and pestel. Next door, we found a group of women sewing.

Back outside, we saw some young men practising their sword fighting in the garden, and a group of archers doing some target practice on our way to the rare-breeds farm. There were loads of cute little black lambs frolicking. We saw some goats with their young too. Little Miss loves quiz questions. "Here's a quiz question for you", I said. "What is a baby goat called?". I don't think she believed me when I told her.
The donkeys and Suffolk Punch horses proved popular with the girls, while Little W chased the chickens.

We found some ladies preparing some meat for cooking, skinning hares and doing something strange with a sheep's intestines. "We're making strings for the instruments", I was told. But the Missus was taken aside for a ladies-only conversation. Much giggling ensued. I was later told that they were explaining to her how they were also making (reusable) condoms "to avoid the French disease".

Just before we left, I was accosted by some Tudor youngsters. Would I like to buy a hot cross bun from the bakery? We had seen them earlier...

I asked how much they cost. "One gold coin", was the answer. I handed over a pound coin and got my bun. Yum. It was delicious.

You can see more of my pictures here on Flickr. The Easter Re-enactment continues through to Monday, 11am to 4pm each day. The next one will be on the May Day holiday weekend. It's well worth it and kids go free. (Human children that is, not goats).

Chilli Farm - It Could Have Been Us

Long time readers of this blog will remember one of the things I considered doing in 2006 was starting up a Chilli Farm (and you can see our 2006 harvest here). Well I was intrigued to see last year a repeat of a programme in the Channel 5 TV series "Build a new life in the country" about a couple that actually did it (a synopsis of the original episode, first broadcast in October 2006, is here). It told the story of Adrian (who worked in IT!) and Denise Nuttall who moved to Suffolk to set up The Chilli Company. Spooky. It must have been filmed about the time I was considering it.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, I was reminded of it when we drove past the farm here on the A140 on our way to Thornham Walks for a winter walk. So I looked them up on the web and found that there was a new series "Build a New Life in the Country - Was it Worth It" that revisited people from the original programmes to see how things had worked out, and that I had missed their episode. And I missed a rerun last night while travelling home from Shropshire. But never fear, I've found it is being repeated (see here) at 9:30 am on Tuesday 25th March. I'd better set the video so I don't miss it again! I hope they are doing well - and I'm not envious, really!