A Day At Weald And Downland Open Air Museum
Written by Phil Brown, Badger Bushcraft Wednesday, 29 September 2010 16:59
We had a most wonderful day out at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum this weekend. There is so much to see and do at there that a day never seems long enough. The buildings are just amazing and really do provide a way to step back in time and reconnect with our ancestors and certainly help me to complete the mental images I have of how our forebears used to live.
Of particular interest is the working 17th century watermill from Lurgashall in Sussex. I knew that the cogs for various mills had been made from hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) and it was most interesting for me to find that the cogs of the mill have also traditionally been made from apple and pear woods.
Whilst eating our picnic lunch by the millpond we had the pleasure of watching a large shoal of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) feeding with a female mallard (Anas platyrhynchos). Lovely to see these stunning fish at such close range and made me appreciate taking my camera.