The Tempest, Belton House and a mini sleepover!

For another part of my Shakespeare studies, I visited Tolethorpe Open Air Theatre to see a performance of The Tempest  with Tilly and Lavinia. We had a delicious picnic first in the lovely gardens with our friends

Then me and Tilly went to explore the gardens and look at the fountain.

Soon it was time to see the performance inside the open-air theatre. It was a warm night so we didn't need blankets this time! The acting was brilliant, but I still found the play a bit difficult to follow. I had only read an incredibly simplified version of the story, so seeing the full play in old Shakespearean English was quite complicated. Still, the performance was very impressive!



Since it was so late, Cat, Tilly and Lavinia came back home with me and mom for the night. We were so tired, we went to bed almost as soon as we got back.

Just chilling

The next day, we had a day out at the magnificent Belton House in Grantham.



Belton House

 I've had a look around the grounds before but never inside the house. It was very impressive! The staff there were quite helpful and they had a lot of facts to share. One of my favourite of the facts was about the staircases. In the Elizabethan age, staircases were very wide so there was a lot of space for the women's large dresses.

The extra-wide magnificent staircase



We were having such a great time wandering from room to room, we didn't notice that everybody else had left as the house was closing! Lavinia came looking for us but me and Tilly were trapped by a very enthusiastic educator who wouldn't stop talking. In the process of looking for us, Lavinia also got lost for a little while. It was a disaster! We managed to all get out of the house before it closed, though. During our little exploration, me and Tilly had learnt some very interesting facts:
1. While creating all of the insanely detailed patterns on the ceiling, the builders would put on the first layer of plaster and while it was still damp, they would stick another chunk of plaster on and model that while it was easy to mold into a shape. The ceilings were so detailed. the builders were clearly very talented!
2. In one of the reading rooms, there was a special chair that you sat on backwards. On the side of the chair that you were facing, there was a mini table that you could put heavy books on. Ladies could even swivel the desk around so they could sit on the chair sideways!
3.  The Belton House estate is made up of 1300 acres of land! The mansion was commissioned by John Barlow in March 1685 and he moved into the mansion in November 1688.
4. A housemaid could expect to earn between £14-£20 per year (£6,000-£9,000), rising to £20-£30 per year (£9,000-£13,000) as a first or upper housemaid. Accommodation and all meals were included.


Next, we had a look around the impressive gardens.

We came across the deer wandering free

The fountain and the Orangery

We hurried to the massive park area as the place would be closing soon and we came across a lovely stream.

When we finally reached the play park it was very impressive! There was an incredibly fast zip-wire there that threw you high into the air when you hit the end. I wasn't prepared for it when I first went down the zip-wire!

I'm up-side down!

There was a see-saw that operated  a water pump. The water was pumped into three tall upright poles and sprayed out of the top of the poles onto the kids below! The faster the see-saw went up and down the faster the water sprayed onto us!

We would have stayed in the park for ages but it was already twenty  minutes past the time Belton House was meant to shut. Thankfully we didn't get locked in (again!) I definitely would recommend Belton House for a great day out!