Time Travel to the Middle Ages

      Last week we traveled back in time to Camlaan Medieval Village, a living history museum near Carnation, WA recreating rural England in the 14th century. Read on to see how we literally got a taste of what it was like to have lived in the Middle Ages!

  Our hosts Roger and Christina welcomed us at the gate to the village.

 Roger explained that the houses were all made of wattle and daub (see more below) and that everything inside was handmade and built to last.

 The students explored a small garden where plants and herbs for food and medicine were grown.

 The inside of the wool dyer's house. We noted the mostly ceramic pots, and other things made of natural materials.

Muriel the sheep would have been one of a flock of about 300 that the village's livelihood would have been built around. The sheep would provide wool, meat, milk and parchment for the village to use and sell.

Cooking utensils used over the fire.

 Roger points out how the "wattle" was constructed by carefully threading branches through a frame. In structures built to live in, this would then be covered with a mixture of straw and clay called "daub."

 In the blacksmith's hut, we learned how children would apprentice with their parents to learn the family trade. Children the age of the Spirits would be doing clean-up work and tending the fire for a few more years before starting to learn how to work with the blacksmith's tools.

 A Spirit examines the carved wooden pegs that would hold the hand-hewn beams together. No nails were used in construction, but these buildings are strong and sturdy.

 A scene from the mural in the feast hall of the Boar's Hede Inne, depicting the hounds at the beginning of a hunt.

  Each of us got a large slice of bread to use as a plate - called a trencher.

  This idea really appealed to the Spirits and Navigators!

 We passed around large platters of  sliced fruit and vegetables, cheese and sausage.

 The feast begins!

  Christina pours some "muste," a lightly spiced grape juice drink. One student described it as "a little taste of Christmas."

 A Ploughman's lunch.

 Roger serenaded us on a lute as we ate. (See the Navigator's blog for a short video.)

 Roger showed us the linen undershirts worn under clothes, the mail Knights wore under their Coat of Arms Velvet tunic, and also explained that it was not until the Renaissance that Knights wore full suits of armor. Knights in the Middle Ages wore only mail.

The royal tapestry hung over the fireplace.

It was too bad we were not able to make it to Camlaan during their Michelmasse Festival -- it would be really neat to visit Camlaan during one of their events. Here's a link to the calendar: http://www.camlann.org/calendar.htm and the website, for further exploration: http://camlann.org

Thank you, Camlaan!