A taste of olden days
Basket Weaving
Children visiting the Rural Life Centre on one of the museum's hugely enjoyable school visits probably know more about how things were done 'back in the olden days' than their parents. Well, Rustic Sunday on 25 July could be your chance to catch up with them and enjoy experiencing together a vanished way of life.
With country music and dancing by local groups, dog handling demonstrations, a horse-drawn bus, steam train rides and demonstrations of rural crafts, the museum and its impressive collection of village and farm artefacts comes alive. The skills involved in day-to-day living in our rural ancestors' day are impressive and there will be craftspeople on hand to demonstrate these skills as well as answer your questions.
Today's hobbies have evolved out of yesterday's necessities: ladies can be grateful they no longer have to make their besom broom before they can sweep the floor. Or spin and weave their own yarn for clothes - or make rugs from rags. Today we buy a plastic bag-for-life, but rural folk made their own baskets and on Rustic Sunday you can learn how it's done.
But if you really want to appreciate life in the 21st century come along to the Victorian laundry. One of the museum's volunteers will be demonstrating the slog of washday before washing machines and tumble driers came along. She will be inviting spectators to roll up their sleeves and have a go at the mangle! Those were just some of the things that filled a rural woman's day, but the menfolk were also busy. On Rustic Sunday you will see the blacksmith hard at work at the forge as well as the woodcutters and charcoal makers busy in the nearby woodland.
Once again members of the West Surrey Family History Society will be on hand to help with your research or offer some pointers to get you started and this year there will be farmers' market stalls to tempt you with their produce. As usual, there will be refreshments available.
Rustic Sunday takes place on 25 July from 10am to 5pm at the Rural Life Centre, an accredited museum of village life, midway between Tilford and Frensham in Reeds Road off the A287, three miles south of Farnham. For further information telephone 01252 795571.
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