I went to Hampton Court. I got a star. I got another star! Whoop-whoopy-woo!! Oh all right then... these are the words that won the prize:
Hampton Court
When we got off the bus, we walked to Hampton court and entered an old door covered in golden leaves. Then we walked up a path to the Clore centre to collect our stickers and split into groups. After that, we walked to a room where a woman gave us a set of head-phones and what looked like a telephone, it was called an audio guide. Next we walked down a narrow corridor and saw the rooms where the fish used to be stored. Then we went through the door into the room that I’d been really looking forward to. The Great Kitchen. It was amazing. We smelt the herbs and garlic in the wooden bowls, and learnt some interesting facts, such as pies used to be used as plates and napkins. In the second great kitchen, we looked at a spit. Our audio guides told us that there was a man in Tudor times that could roast 800 steaks in just a few weeks, that’s about fifty times faster than any spit-turner in his time could manage.
Then, we went to the King’s state apartments. These are lots of different rooms that the King would spend most of his time in or often walk through. First we entered the great hall. As soon as you walk through the door you can understand why it is called that. It has a glittering gold ceiling and huge wooden pillars with reindeer heads attached to it and amazingly detailed tapestries. When we had finished marvelling at the great hall, we took a doorway leading out. From there we walked to the Horn room. A room full of antlers that had been ripped off poor deers that Horrid Henry VIII had killed. We didn’t have enough time to visit much more of the Kings state apartments. So the last room, or rather gallery, that we visited in the apartments, was the Haunted gallery. It is called this because after Anne Boleyn had been found guilty of adultery she had to be executed. Before she was sent away to the tower of London she was always surrounded by guards to make sure she couldn’t escape. But one day Anne managed to slip away from the guards so she could run to King Henry VIII and beg for mercy. She got to the end of the corridor before the guards caught up with Anne and dragged her away screaming.
After that excitement we came out of the state apartments and went to a room where we ate our lunch. Then we went back to the Clore Centre to do the Music Workshop. There, we learnt the names of lots Tudor instrument we also heard them being played, these instruments were called:
· Sakbut
· Recorder
· Lute
· Trumpet
· Field Drum
· Flute
· Three-Hole Pipe
Then we led a procession around the Clore Centre and I was Anne Boleyn. We also learnt how to curtsy and sing a short song of praise to the King or Queen. After that we went to the young Henry VIII exhibition and looked at his family tree. Last of all we had a quick look at the wine cellar, with its wine barrels. According to the Tudors the stronger and darker the wine the better. Finally we went back down the path and hopped on the coach that would take us back to St Nicholas’.
By Emma Wells (5S)
