We're just back from a lovely weekend away. A whistlestop tour of one of Lovely Hubby's old stomping grounds, Portsmouth and a day here at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum.
I've been there once before when I went on holiday with Mum to Bognor Regis back in 2012, and we had a day out to the museum. I knew as soon as I saw it then that Lovely Hubby would love it as much as me. It is filled with cottages and houses all through the ages, that have been painstakingly taken down piece by piece and then fully rebuilt in situ at the museum to reflect their beginnings . You really do need a full day to go round all the houses and appreciate their architecture and contents.
Once again my favorite cottage was one of Whittaker's Cottages (I posted about this one here).
I love everything from it's full and productive vegetable garden ...
... to it's clothes drying area and washhouse.
The larder seemed quite full until you realised this would have kept the family of of Mum and Dad and eight children fed along with the produce from the garden.
And imagine washing the pots after a meal for a family of that size in this little sink!!
And that would have been after you had heated the water that you had just carried in from the pump that you shared with your neighbor that was in front of the pair of cottages.
We spent the full day mooching about all the houses and exploring the water mill and charcoal makers camp in the woodlands. Picking up ideas such as this type of fencing which we could incorporate very well into parts of our woodland.
Then it was time to come home and spend time in our house .....
... one that also has water that needs heating and carrying from one place to another.
Yes, once again we are without hot water and for those of you who frequently ask if our Aga heats the water for our house ..... at the moment the answer is YES, but only if I fill all our kettles and big pans and leave them sat on the top of it all day, ready for washing pots etc when it is needed.
Oh well I said I wanted to live simply :-/
Sue xx
