Our historic buildings and collections are key to inspiring students to develop their critical thinking and enquiry skills as well as providing inspiration to delve deeper into subjects across the curriculum including History, English, Science, Citizenship, Design and Technology.
Our enquiry-based workshops enable students to develop skills in examining and analysing evidence and offer a stimulating environment in which to learn.
In addition to the workshops below, we are happy to tailor sessions to meet your exam board needs, including OCR, AQA, Edexcel and WJEC, so please contact us.
Self-Guided Visits
A self-guided visit to the Weald and Downland Living Museum gives students the unique opportunity to explore over 1,000 years of history all in one place and put history into context in an immersive and inspiring learning environment.
A self-guided visit allows you to explore in your own time and our Resources page has materials to help you prepare as well as activities to support a visit.
How to Book
Visit our Plan & Book page for all the information you need to organise and book a visit, including prices.
Online booking formNeed More Information?
Please email schoolbookings@wealddown.co.uk or call us on 01243 811459
Onsite Workshops
Survival and Shelters (KS3 Enrichment)
Duration: 2 hours
Cost: £90
Starting Year 7 can be a scary time for some with a new school and having to make new friends. Why not give your new Year 7 class a boost by booking one of our team building Survival and Shelter workshops.
In this session, pupils work together to build a shelter out of natural materials using techniques from the past. They learn how to use tools, test their perseverance by lighting a fire without matches, and search for plants to eat or use for medicinal purposes. By the end of the session, they will be have made friends, gained practical skills and hopefully learnt survive in the wild!
What will they do?
- Work in teams to plan and build a shelter using the techniques from the past
- Work together to hold and manipulate wood to weave a section of wattle fencing and make a shelter
- Handle and use tools in a carefully supervised setting
- Watch a fire lighting demonstration and then have a go themselves
- Search for edible and other useful plants and materials used by our ancestors to help them survive
How to book
Please complete our Online Booking Enquiry Form
Alternatively, call us on 01243 811459 or email schoolbookings@wealddown.co.uk
Everyday Elizabethans
Duration: 1 hour
Cost: £45
What was life like for the average Elizabethan? Visit the home of Thomas Wells to find out about daily life for those living outside of the court.
How did ordinary people dress? Where did they live? What chores did they do and what games did they play? This interactive workshop will reveal all, giving students an insight into what life was really like in the Elizabethan era.
What will they do?
- Visit a 16th century yeoman farmer’s home
- House Detectives activity
- Keeping Clean challenge
- Chores and Pastimes activity
- Get Dressed Elizabethan Style activity
How to book
Please complete our Online Booking Enquiry Form
Alternatively, call us on 01243 811459 or email schoolbookings@wealddown.co.uk
Tudor Homes and Building Challenge
Duration: 2 hours
Cost: £90
Take your students back in time to discover how people really lived in the Tudor period. What were their homes like? How did they build them? And what do the buildings tell us about everyday life?
This session begins with a visit to our Tudor farmstead to look for evidence of how it was built and lived in. Students then take part in a construction challenge to discover more about timber-framed building techniques before testing their practical skills making wattle and daub panels.
What will they do?
- Visit a Tudor farmstead
- Investigating the evidence activity – looking for clues about Tudor building materials and construction techniques
- Building construction challenge – to put together a timber frame using one of our small scale models
- Have a go at wattle and daub
How to book
Please complete our Online Booking Enquiry Form
Alternatively, call us on 01243 811459 or email schoolbookings@wealddown.co.uk
Plagues and Potions: Tudor Apothecary
Duration: 1 hour
Cost: £45
How did the Tudors believe the body worked? Who practiced medicine? Did any of it actually work?
In this interactive session, students explore aspects of Tudor medicine and the people that practiced it. They find out about Tudor hygiene and why smells matter before going on to ‘diagnose’ a friend based on the four humours. They then investigate Tudor remedies and make a pomander bead to help fight the Plague.
What will they do?
- Visit a Medieval home
- House Health Inspector activity
- How are you feeling? Diagnosis activity – the Four Humours and urine (not real!)
- Kill or Cure? – match the ailment to the Tudor remedy activity
- Make a pomander bead following a Tudor apothecary recipe
How to book
Please complete our Online Booking Enquiry Form
Alternatively, call us on 01243 811459 or email schoolbookings@wealddown.co.uk
GCSE Everyday Elizabethans
Duration: 1 hour
Cost: £45
Uncover the history of ordinary Elizabethans to find out how their lives compared to those of the rich.
In this session, students step into the past to visit the home of Thomas Wells, a yeoman farmer. They then contrast this with a very different home and use primary sources to unveil what life must have been like for the poor. Further investigative activities explore aspects of the home and daily routines, revealing what life was really like for those in the countryside.
What will they do?
- Visit two homes from the period
- House Detectives activity
- Keeping Clean challenge
- Spot the Difference – living conditions comparison activity
- Investigating the Evidence – primary source activity using a document
How to book
Please complete our Online Booking Enquiry Form
Alternatively, call us on 01243 811459 or email schoolbookings@wealddown.co.uk
GCSE Medicine Through Time
Duration: 1 hour
Cost: £45
How did people believe the body worked in the past? Who practiced medicine? Did it work or was it a case of kill or cure?
This interactive session explores the different aspects of medieval medicine – from ideas about the cause of illnesses and the belief in the healing properties of plants and the four humours to approaches to prevention and treatment. Students find out about medieval hygiene and why smells mattered, make diagnoses, investigate ingredients and debate their effectiveness before making a medieval remedy to take away.
What will they do?
- Complete Historical Home Inspections
- Investigate the 3 types of medicines in Anglo-Saxon times – herb medicine, spell medicine and knife medicine (AQA only)
- Garden medicine cabinet – plants for health and hygiene activity
- How are you feeling? Diagnosis activity – the Four Humours and urine (not real!)
- Kill or Cure? – activity comparing and contrasting Medieval and Tudor medical ideas with what we know today
- Make a remedy to take away following an Anglo-Saxon or Tudor recipe
How to book
Please complete our Online Booking Enquiry Form
Alternatively, call us on 01243 811459 or email schoolbookings@wealddown.co.uk
