Victorian family games at Wray Castle

Read about our first Victorian weekend at Wray Castle.

Corrin and Hannah looking very Victorian

It's all happening at Wray Castle this weekend (3rd, 4th, 5th August)
To fit in with our fantastic Victorian, mock gothic castle the team decided to run a Victorian family games weekend.
You'll see everyone dressed in Victorian costume (or as near to it as we can get by scouring our local charity shops) and loads of traditional Victorian activities going on.

Today, Ranger Luke has sported his top hat and best Bradley Wiggins-style side-burns, and has been running toy boat making sessions. Then we had our own Wray Reggatta and sailed the boats we made on the lake down by the Wray Castle boathouse - and they all floated! (Not so sure about the Victorian glue gun though Luke!)



Ranger Luke in Top Hat making toy boats




One of the finished products!

 Inside the Castle, one of our volunteers (and Beatrix Potter Society member), Patricia, has been story reading - and of course everyone's favourite Peter Rabbit has featured heavily.

Patricia reading a story to children of all ages!

Lottie and Corrin have been having great fun helping younger visitors to make hobby horses and peg dolls from sticks, pegs, socks and glitter.
Thankfully the rain has held off, so outside we've been playing croquet, whipping top (I remember playing that - and it wasn't that long ago!) diablos, cups and balls, pitch and toss, and Geordie bowling (no, I'd never heard of it before either). Those with enough energy left have been running round our home made race track. May be we've seen some future Olympians today - who knows!

It's all going on through the weekend with highlights being Roger firing up his steam boat by the boat house for everyone to have a look at and a wander around, and on Sunday only, our very own Richard, Kendal Town Crier, (but more usually seen in our ticket office at Hill Top or Wray Castle), will be teaching everyone to do their own Crys. So if you're coming on Sunday, it might be a good idea to bring the ear plugs too!
And to cap it all, we've had Julia Bradbury and the BBC Countryfile crew filming in the Castle grounds this afternoon. Apparently it'll be featured on the 19th August, so keep a look out for that.
Hope to see you at the Castle soon,
Jo.