Homes a Long Time Ago

HALF DAY (approx 2 hrs)

This session is a fun and hands-on introduction to domestic life in the past. Pupils learn about 4 of the characters who called Astley Hall home. They then visit several of the mansion’s historic rooms (some of which have hardly changed in 400 years!). The children discover how people slept and stayed healthy in centuries past, how food was cooked and how people relaxed. The children gain hands-on experience of servants’ tasks like washing clothes with a posser and dolly tub, laying the table, beating carpets and polishing silver. They also get to experience the leisure pursuits of Astley’s wealthy residents by playing with vintage toys, trying their hands at shuffleboard and taking part in an authentic Tudor dance!