Ulster Folk Museum

Michelle and Michael came for coffee and cake and to sample some motorhome life. We then all went to the Ulster Folk Museum which was a little village made up of a variety of historic houses and buildings, some original and some replicas depicting life in the old days. There were also a number of craft demonstrations. We started off having a “wee peep” in a church, then went on to the small labourers’ houses with very few facilities. We treated ourselves to some sweets in the sweet shop. We then visited the dress makers house and had an interesting talk and demonstration with one of the staff. We looked at the housework tools of yesterday in the hardware shop before a trip to the pub and rectory. We stopped for a refreshment break and found some jumbo size sausage rolls. The picture house was showing a Charlie Chaplin silent movie. The bank manager’s house which incorporated the bank, was the fanciest of all the properties and included an inside bathroom plus one of the staff was playing on the piano. We learnt at the doctors house that “back in the day” a TB outbreak was causing lots of problem but people weren’t able to quarantine as businesses would have been short of staff (does this sound a familiar story with the covid situation in 2020, 21 and 22) and eventually vaccinations saved the day. We watched a tweed weaver at work and had a discussion about the complaint of weavers bottom! Finally we looked at the very skilful work of the basket weaver making a beautiful stag.

The weather had been sunshine and showers all day and whilst it was dry we took the opportunity for a stroll along the banks of the Belfast Lough, it was quite windy and when the black clouds appeared we hurried back to the Cultra Inn for a delicious meal.

We had had a delightful couple of days with Michelle and Michael and are looking forward to seeing them again in the not too distant future.Read more