The olden days

Today was our last full day in Northern Ireland, we had a slow, lazy start and for once the boys didn't want to go to the beach. After checking the weather forecast we decided to go to the Ulster Folk Museum just about 15 minutes drive away.

The museum is a real mix of indoor and outdoor. Buildings from the 18th to the early 20th century from all over the province have been relocated to the site, rebuilt and furnished as they would have been for their time period. Shops, houses, schools, a jail, a coal yard and different kinds of farms, some of which had staff dressed in period costume to explain spinning, blacksmithing etc. Overall it gave a real sense of what life was like in Uster 100+ years ago. Zachary and Luca were not impressed with the idea of chamber pots (as the youngest child it would have been Luca's job to empty them), or the fact that both of them would have had to work a full day in a shop or factory.

We were struck by the fact that ordinary working people today generally have a much higher standard of living than people who might have been considered well off 100 years ago.

The mock village had a cafe and the service and the food were very good and reasonably priced. The boys were able to play some traditional games in the village square, a sack race, an egg and spoon race, all overseen by the town constable.

We left the mock town and wandered around one of the various walks that ambled past different types of farm and then back into the village where we stopped at a dressmakers shop, next to an old fashioned sweet shop. whilst the boys got their sweets, Barbara stayed in the dressmakers chatting to the lady playing the part of the dressmaker, and inevitably after chatting for 5 minutes discovered that the lady knew Barbara's parents and they had various friends in common.

We made it back to the car just as the rain came on. It had been a really interesting day and I was surprised by how much the boys had enjoyed themselves, by the time we got home they were all tired so we had a quiet night in, and began the process of packing for the ferry tomorrow.Read more