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Clare -> Traquair Medieval Fayre (30 May 2005 2:02:09 )
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A short trip out today to the Medieval Fayre in the Walled Garden at Traquair House - a 15 minute drive from home and we were there!
We had a really enjoyable and memorable afternoon - helped by the fact that the sun decided to shine today!
The car park was in a field right next to the Walled Garden, so there was no distance at all to walk from our car to the entrance. We phoned beforehand, and were pleased to learn that dogs were allowed - "on a short leash" - so we found his shortest leash and took our huge hound Boris along too. There were quite a few dogs there - all very well behaved I must say.
The entry price was £6 for adults and £4 for children (5-14) (so Emily was allowed in for free). It seemed quite expensive, as entry to the house was not included in this. However, on reflection it was a good afternoon, so perhaps it wasn't that bad...also I've just discovered that it costs £9.50 for an adult to go to a safari park, so maybe it wasn't too expensive for an afternoon's entertainment.
As soon as we walked into the Walled Garden we were enveloped by a wonderful joyous, busy atmosphere - people wandering around in medieval costume (children and adults), medieval music floating in the air, and colourful stripey full-size medieval tents all around the sides of the garden (there is a pond and fountain in the middle).
The first thing we took a close look at after absorbing the atmosphere was the falconry display. There was an owl sitting on the handlers arm, and a selection of other birds of prey sitting patiently on their perches on the grass. We made sure to keep Boris well clear so that he didn't scare the birds! The birds were actually very calm and not worried by all the attention - we got a very good look at their sharp beaks and pointy talons!
The traditional medieval music really made the atmosphere authentic. There were two different groups of minstrels, both excellent, consisting of musicians who each played different musical instuments. There was one group playing, at different times, a couple of lutes, two different kinds of drums, an instrument that looked like a violin (i'm sure that's not what its called) and an ancient set of bagpipes.
The second group were very keen on involving the audience, and gave very detailed and interesting information about the music they were playing before they started each piece. They also had drums, another "violin", two different kinds of lute, and a wooden flute.
In the striped tents around the garden, there were many different types of traditional medieval crafts on display. We saw: a stonemason (carving a wonderfully grotesque gargoyle), a hat maker weaving a large round hat from large pieces of flat straw, who also had all sorts of different hats on display, a leather worker making leather goblets, a furniture craftsman with many traditionally styled pieces of furniture (chairs, wooden beds, tables, glasses and tableware), a candle maker, and there may have been others - I'm not convinced we saw every single one!
There was lots for children to do - face painting, archery, meet the knight in full armour, be presented to the "Queen", and most of them were carrying wooden swords and shields...they were all having a wonderful time. Emily loved all the activity - she was keen to go into each tent to see what was there. She really wanted one of the traditional hats, and had set her heart on a lovely red woollen skull-cap style one, but when she tried it on it was much too big...never mind...she was soon distracted by the musicians and birds of prey.
At the far end of the garden was the beer tent selling specially brewed Fayre Ale, which I'm sorry to say we didn't sample! It was nice that the cafe that is normally open in the walled garden (when its a garden rather than a fayre ground) was still open so those who preferred coffee and cakes (or ice creams) were also catered for. I am pleased to report that we did sample the ice cream (one vanilla, one chocolate and one strawberry) and they were delicious.
After that it was home time - a last wander around the tents (Boris drawing much attention due to his size!), and a chat with a few of the people in costume...some of whom stayed in character all of the time and called Boris a "wolf in chains"....and back to the car.
We have been to another Traquair Fayre (a few years back) - the main Traquair Fayre in September, and this wasn't as big as that, but today was still very impressive due to the standard of the costumes, the excellent musicians and the craftsmen in the different tents.
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