We feel it’s really good, when we’ve learned about a particular subject or event, to try to give the girls some hands-on experience, so they can see for themselves that learning is not just about reading books, looking at the internet and the theory of things; it’s about things that actually happen in the real world.
We’re also really big on road trips (and Premier Inn breakfasts!).
Last spring, as part of our East Anglian tour (where we went to Colchester Castle and Kentwell Hall, among other places) we spent the day at West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village and Country Park, where there is a recreation of an Anglo-Saxon village, as well as a large area of parkland (and a playground).
The visitor centre has a decent display of life at West Stow, as well as a more broad look at the Anglo-Saxon era in general. As is often the case with these things, the adults spent a little longer looking at the exhibitions than the children, who were soon off out into the open air to find some houses. The site was occupied from AD420-650, so although the buildings there now are recreations, it’s not too hard to imagine what life would have been like in the area more than 1,000 years ago.
Each building represents a slightly different era of construction; from the very simple early buildings, up to the very modern (by comparison) later eras, with raised wooden floors and a central ceremonial fire pit.
After we’d done with the village, we did a circular walk around the small lake and were lucky enough to bump into gaggles of geese with armies of goslings.
Like most things involving small den-like structures, open fires and cute animals, we could probably have left the girls there – especially Peggy – to fend for themselves for a night or two. But they had to make do with an ice cream from the gift shop and 20 minutes on the playground.
