Bank holiday Mondays means that attractions are open that normally are not. And when the Monday is also May Day, there are plenty of festivals and events happening all over England. Today was no exception, which is why we have to break up today into three separate posts.

We covered a lot of ground, and none of it was in Brighton (where we have a room at Blanch House for three nights).

Weald Downland Living Museum played host to a Food and Folk Festival, an event that attracted hundreds to this picturesque site where the past comes to life in everything they do. We spent two hours, mostly walking the grounds, to study the historic houses and watch demonstrations on how woodworking used to be done before Shopsmiths—and electricity—were invented.

This living museum includes a working farm and examples of housing, buildings, farm implements and tools associated with life in the past—and we’re talking up to 800 years in the past! Their extensive grounds are dotted with houses that have been moved here from their original locations in other parts of England.

Can you guess which one is from the thirteenth century?

Their collection of wagons include those most used on farms, including a Dorset wagon and a cattle wagon They also have the horses to pull them, including two Percheron and two Shires.

And what would a farm be without the animals? Piglets!

Today’s activities includes demonstrations, food booths, entertainment and more. The blacksmiths were busy making horseshoes.

And, of course, there was a maypole. We took our leave just as the rain began to fall and headed for Petworth. More about that visit in our next post.