Autumn comes early at Little Moreton Hall

 Little Moreton Hall: 1 August – 9 August  11am-5pm 

If you feel summer is flashing past, spare a thought for your ancestors.

In Tudor times autumn began on 1 August.

So, Little Moreton Hall, the spectacular Tudor family home near Congleton, is about to offer visitors a taste of what early August was like in those times.

Rachel Costigan, from the Hall said: “August was known as Lammas and it was an important milestone in the Tudor year. The hay was already in but the hard work of harvesting the grain, like oats, corn and barley, was about to begin.

To ensure good results people baked a special loaf from the first wheat ready to be harvested. The loaf was taken to church to be blessed and then eaten at a celebratory meal called The Feast of the First Fruits.”

During Little Moreton Hall’s Lammastide festival, from 1 August to 9 August visitors will be able to try their hands at plaiting dough for the Harvest Loaf.

An important task for Tudor children at this time of year was scaring birds away from the all-important crops. So, come and make a bird puppet to flap around our wicker scarecrow. You can also decorate our cartwheel and help Little Moreton Hall’s Tudor gentlewomen with some ‘strewing’. Lammas was the time to refresh the covering of straw, rushes and herbs which originally formed the floor of the Great Hall.

Rachel added: “The Lammas festival fits well into our summer programme of showing visitors different aspects of Tudor life. Other weeks are themed around topics such as ‘dress  like a Tudor, wash like a Tudor, play like a Tudor and clean like a Tudor.

Our very popular tours of the hall are always available and children have their own trails to explore the building.

There will be something different happening each week of the summer holidays. So, we hope our local visitors will feel there is always something new to come and try.”

Little Moreton Hall is currently open seven days a week 11am – 5pm. For more information visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/littlemoretonhall or call 01260 272018.

Tudor Gentlewoman Alison Nicholls prepares a Lammas loaf at Little Moreton Hall C Emma Williams/National Trust