Guest Author - Nicola Jane Soen

If you are out and about this Easter break here are some places you may want to see. I know Easter is not for over a month but planning the holiday is essential! And these places are a real must if you want to taste real authentic England.

For tourists as well as English visitors, Yesterdays World, opposite Battle Abbey, is a must. Going back over 100 years of English history, it shows how the English lived and shopped. See what food was in the shops over 100 years ago. One can taste what sweets used to be eaten! This is because it has a shop that sells old fashioned sweets. It also sells toys and traditional souvenirs for the English connoisseur.

See Queen Victoria in her full glory. This is a new display and is 3D. You will learn how she and her people lived, what their values were and much more. There are over five floors of exciting things to do, including sipping one of our most loved teas. The tearoom of the famous J. Lyons and Co, with the Nippy waitresses to serve you!
The gardens are pure English countryside with excellent children’s facilities, including a medieval village.
To check out more see website below.

Carrying on with this theme is the Museum of shops in Eastbourne. It has well over 90,000 exhibits to see, including old shops, which show various quintessentially English things. See what was eaten during the rationing of England in WW2, in the wartime kitchen exhibit. There is also is a beautiful display of Royal Pottery, celebrating the royal family since the time before the rule of Victoria. Visit the Grocers and see where the 1900’s mamma brought food to feed her huge Victorian sized offspring! See what she brought. Reminisce over old brands and signs, now only a nostalgic memory. There is also a shop where memorabilia can be purchased. If you would like to visit, check out the web address below. Although this is open from 10am every day, it does advise visitors do check before coming; as times of closings change with the season.

Finally if you love the Tudors check out Bolebroke castle in East Sussex. Go back to the Tudor times and See Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Here you will learn the reasons of Henrys desperation for an heir. See copies of his own writing; his music and poetry. Visit the Kings own chamber and see his toilet, or ‘gendorobe’, where his own personal Master of the Stole wiped the king’s humble posterior!

Also see a priest hole; where priests who were being persecuted could hide from soldiers in safety. There is also a five course banquet, with murder mystery, for those who really want to live Tudor right under the skin!

For the children, big and small! There is a miniature railway in the summer. Wonderfully too, is a Winnie the Pooh tour, if one wants to take their very own little Christopher Robin!

Bed and Breakfast here, staying in a four poster bed; including the Henry VIII suite. Also available for private functions, weddings or corporate events, what ever your agenda, personal or public, Bolebroke is not to be missed. Do check out the website for times and availability of tours etc.

For Yesterdays World:

www.yesterdaysworld.co.uk
Call 01424 893983

For Museum of Shops:

www.how-we-lived-then.co.uk
Email: howwelivedthen@btconnect.com
Call 01323 737143

For Bolebroke castle:

www.bolebrokecastle.co.uk
Email: bolebrokecastle@yahoo.co.uk
Call 01892 770061
Fax 01892 771041