Repair

 It is half term week. Ellie had a sleepover with Ariana last night and as a result, we didn't have to get up early for the drop-off. In fact, it was about nine o'clock before she was dropped off. The weather was mild, dry, and very grey. We had to hope that it would stay that way. We had an outing planned.

We picked up Ellie's friend, Neve, and headed up through Chichester to Singleton to spend the day at the Weald and Downland Museum. Our first challenge was to find a car parking place. All the car parks near the entrance were full so I dropped Di and the girls off, went to find the overflow car park, and then hiked back about 19 miles to meet them.

For those not familiar with the Weald and Downland Museum, it is an outdoor museum where historic houses, barns, mills, and shelters have been rebuilt in a vast parkland setting. A trail of shadow boxes had been placed around the park with letters hidden inside. The girls wanted to find these boxes and then form a word from the revealed letters. This ensured that we did make our way around all of the exhibits.

After a comfort break, we headed past the lake to the old mill where a miller was showing how wheat was ground.

The Museum is the home of "The Repair Shop" which has been a popular TV show where craftsfolk repair old family heirlooms. (They ask you not to photograph the Repair Shop "to keep it as a surprise" which is pretty daft as the credits for the programme clearly identify the Museum as its location). 

As it approached midday, we headed for the restaurant and sat down for some lunch. By arriving early, we had no difficulty finding a seat and ordering our meals. By the time we left, families were queueing out of the door. Also by the time we left, it had started to rain. It was a fine drizzly rain, almost as if we were in the cloud itself. It didn't take long to get us thoroughly soaked. We headed up the hill and looked at the various houses and barns as we walked.

As we walked down one steep path, Ellie noticed a chap lying on the ground. She and Diane went over to check he was all right. Neve and I saw them disappear and went after them. The chap (who was a big unit) had slipped in the mud and twisted his (recently replaced) knee. We stayed with him until he was comfortable enough to try and get up, then helped him onto a bench where he could rest until venturing onwards We did offer to get and get help, but he declined.

We continued the quest for the next shadow box. I think the girls were quite surprised when they saw the conditions that people lived in. They were intrigued by the beds and the toilet facilities... and how dark the homes were (though I did point out they would have had candles or maybe even oil lamps - even if they didn't have WiFi and YouTube).

We stopped at one house where an Apothecary was allowing the children to make some potions. We had to wait for a while, but Ellie and Neve managed to create a potion made of black pepper, coffee beans, lavender, sage, and various other ingredients This all had to be mashed down in a mortar and pestle. Then the finished potion was wrapped in muslin and tied with twine. The girls both brought home their prized potion.

We moved on to the market square and then back to the restaurant for a drink and a slice of cake, and to dry off a bit. While we were there, we worked out the word that was formed by all of the letters shown in the shadow boxes. It was "Bonfire". We submitted the answer when we went across to the shop.

When it was finally time to leave and head home, I left the girls in the shop and started my hike back to the car. It was pointless for all of us to get wet again, so I brought the car around to the entrance and collected them there.

It didn't take too long to get home. We dropped the girls off at Zoe's and then came home where we settled down for a quiet evening.