Kentwell's Unique & Famous Tudor Life Experience

Step Back in Time

During Kentwell's Great Annual Re-Creation of Tudor Life visitors embark on a Time Travel experience which takes them back to Tudor times. All about is the Tudor age.  Relax into it and spend a day in the 16th Century!  Excellent for children but enjoyed by all. Maybe you visited as a schoolchild - well over half a million schoolchildren have happily done so. This is no ordinary House with a few demonstrations

Time Tunnel

Modern life is separated from the 16th C. by the Time Tunnel which takes you back from today to enter the 16th C.  Once inside the Re-Creation, everywhere is 16th Century - spread over the approx. 40 acres in builings and tents that surround the 16th Century House.

Year Portrayed

Each Great Annual Re-Creation is set in a different year of the 120 years of the Tudor period. Kentwell's Tudors react to the outside events of that year as if they were actually taking place then.

For some background for the year chosen for this year's Great Annual Re-Creation go to Year Being Re-Created .

What will Visitors See ?

More than 200 Participants (up to 400 at weekends) at any one time creating the dress, speech, food, drink, music, dance, crafts, activities, pleasures and way of life of the chosen year. Visitors feel they have been transported back to a whole 16th C. community in which everyone is dependant upon each other.  This is how life actually was not just a series of demonstrations.

At the Hall
Meet members of the Clopton family (who built and lived at Kentwell during the 16th C), their friends as well as those retainers working at the Hall and in its service building those who serve them. All carry on as each might have done then. Here and in its original service building of 1500, the Moat House, you may meet

Members of the Family & their friends from young children to aged relatives perhaps engaged in business or relaxing with music & dance;   their Stewards, Butler, Housekeeper & Pages attending upon them.  Cooks cooking in the Great Kitchen & Subtlety-makers, Bakers in the Bakehouse, Brewers in the Brewhouse, Dairymaids in the Dairy, Ladies making potions & lotions in the Stillroom, Seamstresses in the Needleroom.

On the Manor
Here there is re-created everyday life of the larger Kentwell community (in the Gardens, Grounds, Stables and Farm) of those working on the Manor.  The Cot and Hovel show folk in meaner dwellings.

Here meet

Alchemists with curious experiments, Basketmakers, Gardeners in the Herb Garden & Potager, Archers & Fletchers, Ostlers & Carters (minding the heavy horses), Builders working on timber frames, Merchants of various kinds, Pedlars & Marketeers selling Tudor items for Tudor money, Smiths in the Forge, Potters in the Pottery, Dyers, Spinners & Weavers in the Woolshed, Braiders, noisy & lively Players or Mummers, Foundrymen in the Bronze Foundry, Turners in the Coppice, Scientists with 'modern' inventions, Soldiers, Swordsmen & Gunners, Wrights, Netmakers, Bookbinder. Not everything takes place every day but most things do on most days.

Happenings at Weekends

Each weekend during the Great Annual Re-Creation has a main centrepiece planned.  For the first full weekend which usually falls on or near Midsummer, the Tudors have Midsummer Festivities to mark this important time of the year.  The second weekend usually sees a Pageant held to celebrate some significant happening.  The last weekend (From Friday to Sunday) see a Tudor Fair with all the games & challenges, plays & performances, music & dancing and other activities the name suggests.

Catering at Weekends

There is modern fare in the Stableyard Café and Grill and the Overcroft Restaurant both of which are located in an 'island' outside the Re-Creation.and 16th C fare at the Alehouse within and forming part of the Re-Creation. There is a picnic site outside the Re-Creation.  No picnics inside the Re-Creation.

Opening Days & Times  

The Great Annual Re-Creation is Open to the public on Saturdays & Sundays and the last Friday between 17 June and 8 July 2012 from 10am to 5pm (4pm on the final day).  Other days are reserved for pre-booked school parties. 

 Time to Allow

Most visitors spend at least 4 hours in the Re-Creation but not a few enter when the Event opens and stay until it closes.

School visits

School Visits - Provide the information you may need for visiting the Great Annual Re-Creation as a school group

Entrance Prices  

Tickets may be bought at the Gate on public days at the following prices:

* Family = two adults (or OAPS) & two children (aged 5 to 15)

Buying Tickets in Advance

Tickets may be bought in advance at discounted prices either on line - see below - or by calling the Estate Office 01787 310207. In each case you need your Credit Card handy to pay.These discounted prices may vary from day to day.  

NB  Tickets bought in advance may be used (once only) on any public Open Day for Kentwell 1553.  You do not have to specify the day you expect to come.