Spending May Day with Shakespeare

A few weeks ago we had a rare night away & visited Shakespeare Country.

We loved it so much that we travelled back to Warwickshire Two weeks later as Mary Arden's Farm was celebrating May Day.

~

We had just finished learning about The Tudor's so this was a perfect way to end the topic & inspire the children to know & learn more about William Shakespeare.

~

Mary Arden's Farm has so much charm & history,

 you feel like you are walking back in time.

~

Carding wool.

These two little girls love to get involved in crafts.

~

The rear of Palmers Farmhouse.

There is always something cooking on the hearth in this farmhouse.

~

All the Tudor costumes were wonderful.

~

Cooking Tudor Pottage.

I brought home a wonderful little book with some lovely Tudor recipes in which we have had several times since our trip.

~

A basket of Tudor supplies.

~

The farmhouse kitchen.

~

I loved all the woodenware.

~

Goose Herding.

~

Sweet Spring lambs at the farm.

~

Kitty made a friend.

~

Anne Hathaway's Cottage & gardens.

~

Upstairs in one of the bedrooms.

It was wonderful seeing all the old pieces of oak furniture.

~

The beautiful scullery in Anne Hathaway's cottage.

~

Tulip Time in the cottage garden.

~

The twins loved this garden with all the paths, nooks and crannies.

~

The girls outside Shakespeare's Birthplace in Stratford Upon Avon.

~

One of the downstairs rooms.

~

This house is Halls Croft which was the home of Shakespeare's daughter Susanna,

 she was married to a doctor.

~

The kitchen in Halls Croft.

~

We loved all these old houses in Stratford & the surrounding villages.

The staff were wonderful & we learnt so much from them.

Our tickets last for a year so we will go back many times.

~

May Day in England.

We love to study old traditions so after learning about May Day in England many years ago we once again travelled to Stratford upon Avon to Mary Arden's Farm.

There was so much to do there from making flower garlands to bringing in the May Pole.

~

Dancing round the Tudor May Pole.

Cooking a May Day meal in Palmer's Farmhouse at Mary Arden's Farm.

The twins made some beautiful flower wreaths for their hair at the farm.

~

There are so many activities you can do at the farm.

The girl's also did Tudor weaving & braiding & they made Gingerbread.

~

Smelling the herbs in the farmhouse garden.

The girls are planning their own herb garden.

~

Hand weaved basket outside the farmhouse.

~

The Tudor May Day meal.

~

During the meal they told you all about Tudor manners and customs.

~

Mary & Danny joined in a Shakespeare play at his birthplace in the afternoon.

Mary has been truly inspired by Shakespeare & came home with a pile of books.

~

There are five museums all run by The Shakespeare Trust.

They were all wonderful with so much to see & do.

I hope you all had a lovely May Day & are enjoying the last days of Spring in your part of the world.

~

Thank you dear readers for all your lovely comments.

A few followers have asked for recipes on Instagram which I will post on my next blog post. I just had so many photos of the Shakespeare homes.

~

Fondly Michelle

~

Autumn & Winter Days

Sitting here looking out of the window signs of Spring are everywhere, it has been a mild Winter here in England but I am still so glad & happy to see the delicate Snowdrops & Crocus's popping their jolly little head's out.

Most of these photo's seem so long ago. I have picked some of things we have been up to since August to give you all a little catch up & a few recipes too.

 Daily life is very busy but I am determined to keep up with the blog.

~

Rocks Cakes are a firm family favourite so I am always trying out different recipes for them. This is a 1950s recipe.

~

Cinnamon Rolls just before going in the oven.

~

We visited a few places just before my operation one was Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire.

It is such a magnificent Elizabeth Mansion.

Bess of Hardwick lived there, a friend of Elizabeth the First.

~

Sidney took a photo of Andy & myself with the twins.

~

There is a mill at Hardwick were you could go on a tour & buy beautiful bread flour.

~

Hardwick's great kitchen.

~

Victoria Sponge Cake ready for tea.

Named after our Queen Victoria, it was her favourite cake.

~

One of our many Home School Crafts.

Autumn has so many beautiful colours.

~

In the Autumn we had a visit to Beamish.

This is such a magical museum that we visit time & time again.

Our history topic then was The Victorian's so this museum was ideal.

~

Cottage shots at The Miners Village at Beamish.

~

These are cottage's at Home Farm at Beamish.

The farm is set during the Second World War where land girls stayed.

I can see us having a trip back there after September as that is when we start our Second World War Topic.

~

The twins making a Church Window Tart.

~

Embroidering a Victorian Sampler was part of our Victorian History Topic.

~

Christmas Crafts.

The girls painted holly for their Christmas cards this year.

~

Homemade Mincemeat.

~

Sunday Teatime.

~

As we were studying The Victorians we decided to make a Mrs Beeton's Mincement.

I have a Victorian copy of Mrs Beeton's book so we chose a recipe from there.

~

A little stroll around the church yard.

~

Snickerdoodles all lined up ready for the freezer to eat over Christmas.

~

We took the children to a Christmas Tree Festival at St Mary's Church which is the church in our nearest market town two miles away.

The twins rolled their own candles there, the church was beautiful all lit up for Christmas.

~

A trip out to National Trust Belton House on a cold Winter's day to do the under stairs  Christmas tour.

~

Look how big Charlotte has got, she will be one next month.

The twins are captivated by her, she's such a happy little girl.

~

Mary reading Charlotte a story.

~

More of the twins handmade Christmas decorations which were all Victorian inspired to go with our history topic.

~

The girls all dressed up for our Home School Christmas Party.

We took them to The Petwood Hotel for lunch. This hotel is where the Dambuster Squadron met up during the Second World War.

~

We managed to get a table in the squadron room were the squadron met.

This room is filled with so much history.

~

Our Christmas Cake this year.

~

A few days before Christmas we had a special tea as Dene & Ellie came to visit.

~

Homemade Mincepie's.

~

Kitty hanging her stocking up on Christmas Eve.

~

Christmas Day, Kitty loved her book on Enid Blyton.

~

Boxing Day Tea.

~

This is how much snow we have had this Winter.

~

Christmas Muffins.

~

Gingerbread.

~

Our Geography topic at the moment is canals.

We took a trip to Bardney Canal which is about 15 minutes away from us.

Water is always so peaceful, we had a gentle stroll & saw lots of wildlife.

~

Ma Larkins Iced Buns.

This recipe is from Ma Larkin's (Darling Buds of May) Cook Book.

They were so good.

~

Our history topic since January has been The Tudors.

We went down the road to Tupholme Abbey during the week we learned about the dissolution of the monasteries.

~

Swiss Roll for tea.

~

Last weekend we visited beautiful Thirsk in Yorkshire & revisted The James Herriot Museum.

This is such an interesting little museum.

~

I'm always drawn to the kitchen's in museum's & this one is a lovely one.

~

& the last thing I have to tell you is we have been blessed with another Granddaughter.

Matilda (Tilly) Florence was born on the 13th of February to Dene & Ellie.

Now we have two beautiful little Granddaughter's.

~

The twins just love her to bits, Charlotte & Tilly is what they talk about all the time.

Dene & Ellie are wonderful parent's to this little girl.

Our family is growing & I'm so happy.

~

I'm sorry it's been far too long since I did a post.

I hope you enjoy this catch up.

Fondly Michelle