les grandes médiévales
Since I'm writing this post from home, our plans for a quick weekend getaway didn't pan out, which was fine by me and I daresay even the children were happy about it. The Bun's latest hobby is making books, but instead of writing them himself as he used to previously, he copies them out from the books he likes and adds his own illustrations. I think it's fine because he gets handwriting practice out of it, and also because I can clearly remember doing the same when I was a child. I still have one of the (original) books I wrote at age eight. I can't ever remember not writing. One starts off, as always, by standing on the shoulders of giants.
Anyway, we ended up spending our entire Saturday at a medieval festival in Andilly, France. It's only a short drive from where we live and the online reviews were so positive that my curiosity was piqued and I persuaded J to go. The kids are not really into knights and princesses, but The Bun knows a bit about medieval stuff because they did a topic on it in Reception. I think that J and I were the ones who ended up getting a kick out of it because we are big Game of Thrones fans, and being at the festival was like sinking into a mystical world from the past.
Goats, forest, huts
Part of its appeal, I think, is its location. We drove and parked in one of the overfill carparks, then took a free shuttle bus the short distance to the entrance. The festival is held in the midst of a large forest and everything onsite is built, as far as possible, to look the way things used to be in the Middle Ages. The attention to detail was impressive - I bought the kids some roast chicken for lunch and they served them on plates made of bread, while in the open kitchen behind the seats you could watch the chickens being roasted on a massive brick and iron grill, while their live compatriots pecked around blithely beneath.
Apart from the inevitable fridges and audio PA systems, everything else was as back-to-basics as possible. No tarmac paths, no cash registers, no electric stoves (I also bought pain perdu, grilled lovingly over a wood-burning stove, and it was the best French toast I have ever eaten), no flushing toilets (they were eco toilets and you threw a choice of wood shavings or dried leaves into the hole after you were done), no plastic or metal utensils, no soft drinks (they didn't exist back then, did they?). After the festival ends next weekend, the forest will return to peace and silence until the next festival the following year.
Diaper-changing hut with loads of old keys pinned to the walls;
the notes next to them were some corny French puns.
And the costumes! It was like being in a giant medieval cosplay. We were just in our normal clothes but there were lots of people all dressed up, and some of these outfits were really detailed and lovingly made, from prosthetic elven ears to ten-foot tall fairies on stilts to bloodied bandages on the (faux) filthy beggar. I even saw a baby dressed up as a peasant, complete with apron, headscarf, and all. The festival has 1,100 performers, artisans and workers who are all dressed up and they remain in character throughout the day, even when they stand in line behind you trying to buy food from the stall.
This big guy went around thunking his heavy soup ladle onto lunch tables
and questioning people about their lunch choices!
We spent most of our time watching various performances dotted all around the village. The best one had to be the jousting tournament. We were lucky to arrive early enough to catch the grand défilé, where all the actors and animals parade through the village and into the jousting ring. We were even luckier to snare good seats on the stands to watch the entire parade and tournaments, which lasted nearly two hours. The kids were fascinated by the endless procession of knights, soldiers, lords and ladies, peasants (with farm animals, including the cutest little black pig!), witches, gypsies, etc. All of them were in character as they walked through, waving at the audience, and were greeted with cheers and shouts from the crowd.
The highlight for me was when the knights (les chevaliers) entered on their horses, decked out in full armour with their heraldic crests. The horses were draped in the traditional caparison and were beautiful, highly-trained animals. Although our French is quite limited, we managed to understand most of what was going on, even some of the jokes. There was the usual rogue knight who kept cheating in the tournament or trying to dishonourably attack another knight from the back, and the crowds would boo loudly or shout 'attention! derrière!' (look out behind you!). It was extreme good fun, a highly-entertaining spectacle and nothing like our family had ever seen before. I told J that even if we left after watching only this, it would have been worth the entry price.
Happily enough, we did get to watch much more than the jousts. We caught part of a reenactment about some famous battle, and the bit where a team of archers shot a huge flock of arrows into the air was quite breath-taking. While Bao napped in her stroller, The Bun and I watched a comic troupe entertain the crowd with songs, juggling, simple magic tricks, and bawdy jokes. I told him that people in the Middle Ages didn't watch TV or even read for entertainment, so this is what they would have liked to watch. I don't think he was impressed.
We also saw a show about falconry featuring some gorgeous birds (Bao was quite taken by this and has been playing 'falconer' at home using her duckie as the falcon, hah!) and a funny marionette performance using wood-carved puppets that were, as far as I can remember from the days when I used to do theatre history, pretty authentic. They were not cutesy at all, grotesque almost, but the kids that were in the audience roared with laughter at the slapstick, slightly dark tales that were told. After all, if you look back at the original Brothers Grimm stories, those tales were not exactly cheerful either. Also fun to check out were the stalls selling clothes, jewellery, swords, and more, the tiny fairytale huts hidden in small clearings in the woods, and also the many tents where the 'knights' were teaching sword-fighting to children and adults keen on some role-play. And all around us, there were buskers and troubadours, singing with the lute or the flute. There was a great atmosphere all around.
We finally left close to 5pm having spent six whole hours there, and I don't think we even explored more than half of the village. No wonder why some people buy a five-day pass! The festivities apparently extend all the way till 11.30pm, complete with campfires, fireworks and all. I would highly recommend it even if (especially if) you have no clue about medieval life, because it's so fun being totally immersed in a fantastical, world from the past.
Anyway, we ended up spending our entire Saturday at a medieval festival in Andilly, France. It's only a short drive from where we live and the online reviews were so positive that my curiosity was piqued and I persuaded J to go. The kids are not really into knights and princesses, but The Bun knows a bit about medieval stuff because they did a topic on it in Reception. I think that J and I were the ones who ended up getting a kick out of it because we are big Game of Thrones fans, and being at the festival was like sinking into a mystical world from the past.
Goats, forest, huts
Part of its appeal, I think, is its location. We drove and parked in one of the overfill carparks, then took a free shuttle bus the short distance to the entrance. The festival is held in the midst of a large forest and everything onsite is built, as far as possible, to look the way things used to be in the Middle Ages. The attention to detail was impressive - I bought the kids some roast chicken for lunch and they served them on plates made of bread, while in the open kitchen behind the seats you could watch the chickens being roasted on a massive brick and iron grill, while their live compatriots pecked around blithely beneath.
Apart from the inevitable fridges and audio PA systems, everything else was as back-to-basics as possible. No tarmac paths, no cash registers, no electric stoves (I also bought pain perdu, grilled lovingly over a wood-burning stove, and it was the best French toast I have ever eaten), no flushing toilets (they were eco toilets and you threw a choice of wood shavings or dried leaves into the hole after you were done), no plastic or metal utensils, no soft drinks (they didn't exist back then, did they?). After the festival ends next weekend, the forest will return to peace and silence until the next festival the following year.
Diaper-changing hut with loads of old keys pinned to the walls;
the notes next to them were some corny French puns.
And the costumes! It was like being in a giant medieval cosplay. We were just in our normal clothes but there were lots of people all dressed up, and some of these outfits were really detailed and lovingly made, from prosthetic elven ears to ten-foot tall fairies on stilts to bloodied bandages on the (faux) filthy beggar. I even saw a baby dressed up as a peasant, complete with apron, headscarf, and all. The festival has 1,100 performers, artisans and workers who are all dressed up and they remain in character throughout the day, even when they stand in line behind you trying to buy food from the stall.
This big guy went around thunking his heavy soup ladle onto lunch tables
and questioning people about their lunch choices!
We spent most of our time watching various performances dotted all around the village. The best one had to be the jousting tournament. We were lucky to arrive early enough to catch the grand défilé, where all the actors and animals parade through the village and into the jousting ring. We were even luckier to snare good seats on the stands to watch the entire parade and tournaments, which lasted nearly two hours. The kids were fascinated by the endless procession of knights, soldiers, lords and ladies, peasants (with farm animals, including the cutest little black pig!), witches, gypsies, etc. All of them were in character as they walked through, waving at the audience, and were greeted with cheers and shouts from the crowd.
The highlight for me was when the knights (les chevaliers) entered on their horses, decked out in full armour with their heraldic crests. The horses were draped in the traditional caparison and were beautiful, highly-trained animals. Although our French is quite limited, we managed to understand most of what was going on, even some of the jokes. There was the usual rogue knight who kept cheating in the tournament or trying to dishonourably attack another knight from the back, and the crowds would boo loudly or shout 'attention! derrière!' (look out behind you!). It was extreme good fun, a highly-entertaining spectacle and nothing like our family had ever seen before. I told J that even if we left after watching only this, it would have been worth the entry price.
Happily enough, we did get to watch much more than the jousts. We caught part of a reenactment about some famous battle, and the bit where a team of archers shot a huge flock of arrows into the air was quite breath-taking. While Bao napped in her stroller, The Bun and I watched a comic troupe entertain the crowd with songs, juggling, simple magic tricks, and bawdy jokes. I told him that people in the Middle Ages didn't watch TV or even read for entertainment, so this is what they would have liked to watch. I don't think he was impressed.
We also saw a show about falconry featuring some gorgeous birds (Bao was quite taken by this and has been playing 'falconer' at home using her duckie as the falcon, hah!) and a funny marionette performance using wood-carved puppets that were, as far as I can remember from the days when I used to do theatre history, pretty authentic. They were not cutesy at all, grotesque almost, but the kids that were in the audience roared with laughter at the slapstick, slightly dark tales that were told. After all, if you look back at the original Brothers Grimm stories, those tales were not exactly cheerful either. Also fun to check out were the stalls selling clothes, jewellery, swords, and more, the tiny fairytale huts hidden in small clearings in the woods, and also the many tents where the 'knights' were teaching sword-fighting to children and adults keen on some role-play. And all around us, there were buskers and troubadours, singing with the lute or the flute. There was a great atmosphere all around.
We finally left close to 5pm having spent six whole hours there, and I don't think we even explored more than half of the village. No wonder why some people buy a five-day pass! The festivities apparently extend all the way till 11.30pm, complete with campfires, fireworks and all. I would highly recommend it even if (especially if) you have no clue about medieval life, because it's so fun being totally immersed in a fantastical, world from the past.