It’s become an annual highlight of the palace’s summer programme, and this year its resurrection comes with more galloping horses, flying arrows, tooting trumpets and crashing armoury.
Mediaeval Season is running throughout the summer holidays at Eltham Palace, giving visitors of all ages a taste of what life was like in, er, less civilised times.
‘When exactly was the Medieval Era?,’ you’d be forgiven for asking.
It went on longer than you might think, running from the 5th – 15th centuries.
On the one hand, it was a time of economic expansion, where progress was made in defining territories, and while methods for farming were basic, there was work aplenty out in the fields, sowing crops and collecting in the harvest.
But on the other, they were grisly times, when diseases were rampant and putting a foot wrong could see you put to death in a number of gruesome ways.
There will be none of that at Eltham Palace, but you will have the chance to take part in jester workshops – clowning about and making your friends laugh.
You can also listen in on some Medieval storytelling, try your hand at archery and take lessons in courtly etiquette – which just might pluck you from the fields and put you in the palace, if you learn how to act like a lady or a gent.
Medieval characters will be roaming the grounds too. Introduce yourself to them and they just might tip you off about further goings on in the palace grounds.
The season is promising different activities each week, so check out the palace’s social pages to find out what’s happening when.
Eltham Palace and Gardens, Court Yard, Eltham, Greenwich, SE9 5NP.
July 31 – September 3, 10am – 5pm.
Admission: £18/£11 children.
www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/whats-on/eltham-medieval-season/
