25 February 2025
Fasting until Easter: Shrovetide & Lent
What does your preparation for Easter look like? Gathering the chocolate eggs; planning the roasts or the walks; figuring out which church service you’ll attend on Easter Sunday; plotting the…
11 February 2025
There’s No Place Like Home: Homes through History
From the thatched dwellings of the Saxons to the grandiose Edwardian townhouses, the story of homes in England is as varied as it is fascinating. Our homes are more than…
15 January 2025
Drinking with the Trees: The Tradition of Wassailing
At the heart of English tradition lies wassailing, an ancient and joyful custom that marks the New Year with blessings, music, and communal cheer. Rooted in folklore and evolving through…
30 December 2024
Celebrating New Year’s: Games, Gifts, and Royal Favour
What are your plans for New Year’s? Watching the fireworks? Counting down the year with a glass of champagne in hand? New Year’s celebrations have changed dramatically over the centuries,…
20 December 2024
Feasts, Parties and Celebrations: The Twelve Days of Christmas
How do you celebrate Christmas? Most, if not all, families will have their Christmas traditions; the food they eat, the family members they see, the church services they attend, the…
9 December 2024
Winter Warming: Ritual Year Traditions in the First Season
In the Ritual Year, the year is divided into the four seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn. This roughly maps onto the monthly divisions too. Winter is December, January, February; Spring…
18 November 2024
Christmas Through the Ages
How do you celebrate Christmas? You might have traditions that are unique to you and your family, your cultural heritage or national identity. In Britain, Christmas as we know it…
13 November 2024
The Heart of the Home: A History of the Hearth
What does the household revolve around? What is the centrepiece of the home? For millennia, it has been the hearth. Indeed, the modern world ‘hearth’ comes from the Old English…
5 November 2024
Blod-Monath: Winter Survival & Celebration
November, the month of Guy Fawkes, bonfires and autumn leaves, went by a different moniker during the Early Medieval period. It was known, rather descriptively, as ‘Blod-Monath’, or ‘Blood Month’…
30 October 2024
Ghostly Trick or Pious Treat? The Origins of Halloween
As soon as the leaves start to change colour, and the blanket of them begins to crunch under foot, our minds usually turn to Halloween. This is the night where,…
18 October 2024
Cultivating Sustainability: A Gardening Way of Life
In an increasingly eco-conscious world, sustainability is no longer just a buzzword - it’s a way of life. From nurturing soil health to promoting biodiversity, each step we take towards…
18 October 2024
Welcome to our Museum Director
Tilly Blyth steps into Director role to lead an exciting new chapter at the Weald & Downland Living Museum The Weald & Downland Living Museum is delighted to announce…
