Doddington Hall

The first thing we had to do when we arrived at Doddington Hall was knock on the gate and see if we would be allowed entry. Ebony stepped up and gave a sharp knock and a moment later we were greeted by a Victorian maid.

    

The children were split into 3 groups in which they would do the 3 activities - a tour of the hall, looking at Victorian artefacts in the tent room and a tour of the gardens.

The tent room is a room where the walls have been draped with a very old, hand-sewn tent, that is too fragile to be put outside anymore. 

The children sat on cushions around the room where we were told of the history of the tent and then given artefacts to try and identify. 

Can you work out what some of these Victorian objects were used for?

 

 Lots of children thought you would use this to make popcorn or pancakes!

 

Rubie is demonstrating the butter churn.

Our tour of the Hall took us through the Grand Dining Room, the ladies parlour, and some bedrooms, amongst others. We had to be very sensible and quiet as the family still live in the Hall.

 

We were able to pick up and look at some of the old objects in the house, such as a mirror, the material used to cover the chairs and a very old book.

In the gardens we saw the kitchen garden where they grow a lot of the food that they eat and sell at Doddington Hall, the posh garden where the people who built the house liked to show off their wealth, the lawn, and the enormous field with the cows in.

 

However, by far the favourite part of the garden tour was the maze. Our guide placed Mr Boyd in the middle and the children had to try and solve the maze and get to him.

 

 

The first person to crack the maze was Chloe - she made it to Mr Boyd first and then helped the other children find their way around. Super teamwork!

What a busy and fun day it was!