THE ESTATE KITCHEN
The head kitchen maid and a scullery maid introduced the importance of running an estate kitchen. Children were allotted tasks: cleaning the floor, dusting pans and washing plates. Biscuits were prepared using utensils and very few labour-saving gadgets!

Biscuits was cooked in the fantastic range while the children made sweets. The lifestyles of the aristocracy were discussed - the amount and types of food eaten, and how it was served and what meal times were kept.

Costumed demonstrators began with an explanation of the weekly routine of the laundry maids. In the wet laundry the children saw the copper being heated by its coal-fired furnace. Each child was given a square of cotton cloth which they took through the various processes of washing.  Some of them got water everywhere!

The cloth was then "blued" starched and mangled. In the dry laundry, children learned how to use a flat iron (although the one they used wasn't hot!), "clothe" the rollers for the box mangle, fold napkins (Mr Baxter is still learning how to do this!) and load stockings onto "leg" shapers.