Wynmerestow

We camped in the Wynmerestow Longhall over Labour Day weekend. The weather was not particularly nice. It was blustery, cool and rainy. The winds drove the rain across the field in a rather formidable fashion at times. We layered on the linen and then the woollen garments to stay comfortable... and we were! We harvested our vegetable garden! Considering we added no compost or other nutrients to the long fallow field, we had lovely baby leeks, an onion, parsnips, turnips and carrots to feed us all. Mainly carrots mind you, they did really well. We turned them into a soup to eat with our spit roasted beef.In order to get the fires going and the beef roasting, we had to put our canvas shelter over the firepits. It gave the boys interesting things to try with using wattle fences and cloaks as wind blocks.
Despite the wind, the cooking fires needed occasional help to get the water boiling for warming tisanes and heating dishwater. It's a good thing the bellows are very effective!
One of our members is a talented potter. He makes us all sorts of neat Saxon period toys to play with. This time it was lovely oil lamps. They are quite safe to use, having just a bit of oil floating on some water. If the vessel spills or cracks, the water extinguishes the flame. There were just a few of these lamps burning all night . The longhall had a lovely, warm and welcoming glow which made midnight trips to the loo much easier to manoeuvre.
Every once in a while there was a break in the weather and glorious sunshine blessed us all. At night the clouds parted with a star filled sky of immense beauty. The smoke of the fires was unavoidable. The smell of slightly damp wool followed us around as did the wet hems. Our boots though were waterproof and our spirits good. It was all too soon we had to pack up to come home. It was a good weekend - too short perhaps, but a good weekend..

The Saxon Longhall

The local Regia group is building a Saxon Longhall and some extras to go along with it. The Longhall is getting done. There are still things that need finishing, but it is "livable" for camp outs and other events. The inside needs a bit of finishing, some paint and we're hoping for a closet to hide modern items and important things like the first aid kit. The kitchen garden is new this year. We covered the ground with a tarp last year. When we lifted the tarp this spring, the ground was ready to till! It's a bit difficult to care for as we're all a fair hike from the hall, so a few things have suffered due to insufficient moisture at critical times. The aim was to have a group meal at the end of the summer, using our own produce. So far it looks like we'll be eating lots of turnips and some carrots, flavoured with a few onions and leeks.

The footings for the next area have been poured; the forge and kitchen area. The forge will be a covered open sided building for our smith to play in. The kitchen area will house the bread oven and a raised hearth, with a small common area, open sided with a roof. While covered areas like this may not be 100% documentable, the hearth and oven are. The roof will provide some protection from the elements and some desperately needed shade. Finally there will be a weaving shed for the looms and a place for people to do crafty stuff.

Our potter is pretty handy with decorative details. This is the lintel on the small end door. There is a lovely one for the soon to be closet area, carved with lovely entwined wheat stalks and painted a pretty green.

All in all, it's a huge amount of work but lots of fun. It's like a full sized playhouse for the group.