Normanby Park: a Victorian house and walled garden

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Today we went to Normanby Hall and a Victorian Walled Garden. They both were built in the Victorian times.

This is the front of the house and it is very grand with large pillars. The tall, imposing door was just creaking open as I took this photograph. I thought it might have been a ghost of the past going to haunt someone!

At the entrance to the park are two black iron gates. Both of them are HUGE, but one is much larger than the other. The larger one was for the rich people who owned the Country house and their guests; the smaller gate was for servants. We entered the park through the smaller gate.

I really liked the Victorian walled garden. It was full of flowers, herbs and an assortment of fruit and vegetables. The apples were growing on the wall because the wall heats up, it heats up because of the sun.
The Walled Garden was there because you could get better quality fruit and vegetables for the rich people of the hall by growing it yourself.

Victorian childhood

Today I am learning about Victorian childhood. I have asked myself the following questions:

• What kinds of entertainment did Victorian children have?

This picture is of a zoetrope. A zoetrope was a toy for rich Victorian boys which was used to help boys ask scientific questions about how it worked. Rich boys would also have trains and toy soldiers. However, if you were poor you were more likely to play outside and just use whatever you could get your hands on, such as mud for mud pies, bridges and tunnels; hats or tin cans for tin-can-copper and kick-can-policeman. (I don't know what happens in those games though). 

If you were a girl, you would have dolls in preparation for motherhood. If you were rich you might have a very beautiful doll made out of wood and wax. For example, here is a picture of a Victorian doll which would have belonged to a rich girl. If you were a poor child, you would be more likely to have a cloth peg doll (my mummy says that the doll might not have been so beautiful, but the child probably loved it just as much. I think that the child might have loved a cloth peg doll more because they didn't have as many other toys and dolls.) Rich girls might have had dolls' houses for learning about domestic skills - cleaning and household management. Rich girls were encouraged to make dolls' clothes and soft furnishings to practice their sewing. 

In Victorian times, entertainment for middle class children wasn't ever so different from some of the things that we do nowadays. For example, on wet days middle class children might play snakes and ladders or happy families. They wouldn't have had computers or televisions though!

• Did Victorian children go on holidays?

Middle class and upper class children would go to the seaside. Lower middle class families had a week's holiday each year. The seaside, for many Victorians, holds quite a romantic image. Seaside accommodation could be excellent, in-between, or awful. For example, once a family hired a doctor's house for a week and ran out on the first day because of the rodents.

A normal seaside holiday included walks along the sea shore, donkey-riding, bathing, band concerts, and punch and judy shows. There was also a pier where one could play games or go on fairground rides. 

The seaside WASN'T a Victorian invention - people went to the seaside for holidays before Victorian times. 

Life in Tynemouth

Today's blog is all about living in Tynemouth!

As a family, we have really enjoyed living in Tynemouth. The sea is on our doorstep, and we have a lovely sandy beach. This webcam is the same view that we have from our front room window.  

There are two schools in Tynemouth: Priory Primary School and King Edwards School. I used to go to Priory Primary. My teacher was called Miss Bruce. She was very nice. 

Opposite Priory Primary School is a chocolate shop; it is called Gareth James Chocolatier. I once spent an afternoon making chocolate there!

This is a picture of Tynemouth Front Street (around the corner from the school). You can nearly see the shop where we always choose grandma's earrings.

At the bottom of Front Street is the old drinking fountain and Mr Woods' cafe. It is one of our favourite cafes. We once saw a parade going down this street. Every year there is a big Tynemouth festival with street artists and entertainers. 

For example: Acrobats, Puppet Shows... They're all great fun.

I once did a photography lesson there. We were photographing texture.

Before you get to front street you pass a statue of  Queen Victoria.

Iola and mummy and me used to pretend that Queen Victoria was dancing. This was because Iola used to be scared of the statue. 

Our holiday in Ireland

We have just come home from our holiday in Ireland. We had a BRILLIANT time!!!
These are some of the activities that we did:

Donkey Walking
We had a Donkey called John Willis, he was very cheeky! He once stole a ginger biscuit! We also had a donkey called Genna who we could ride on.We learnt how to brush them. It was great.

Horse Riding
This was for me and Iola to do. First we met our horses: they were very cute. Mine was called Stormy. We brushed them and picked out their hooves. Then we saddled them up. After that I led mine to the school. We mounted and set off. We went on a trek for two hours through the forest. It was amazing.

Canoeing

This was when we had two Canadian Canoes. Iola, Mummy and Daddy went in a canoe together and I went with the instructor. He was very interesting so we had loads of fun. While I was paddling he taught me a new stroke and a easier way to paddle. We went out for about 2 hours and explored the Isle of Inisfree and the mouth of the river Bonnet. At the end we both stood up while paddling.It was fantastic.

Castles
While we were in Ireland we visited a lot of castles. These included Dunguaire castle at Kinvarra, where there was a medieval banqueting hall and amazing views over the sea; Portumna Castle, where I particularly like the walled Victorian garden where they grew basically all fruits, veg, and herbs; Athenry Castle, which Iola and I loved running around in; and another castle which was really a Norman Tower hidden in the woods.

Overall it was a GREAT holiday!

Victorian sculptures in Gateshead

Today we went to Gateshead to find Victorian sculptures. First we went to the old town hall. That had Victoria on the roof (with a seagull on her head).I directed mummy there with a map but I had her to help. It was on West St, Gateshead.

The other one was on the wall, a model of a Victorian bakery. That was on Carlisle Street, Gateshead. It looked really realistic.

Studying Victorians

At the moment, I am studying Victorians as part of my home schooling. I will start school again when we move to America.

I am interested in Victorians because I think that was the time when a lot of things changed. For example, Christmas cards were introduced and steam trains were made and children started to be able to go to school even if they were poor.

At the moment I am doing my research on the internet. I have found two really helpful websites. I am writing my information on word or in a blue note book.

I want to write a Victorian diary with recipes, record an interview with me as the Victorian child and map statues of Queen Victoria from all over Newcastle