We visited Llancaiach Fawr in dangerous times -1645. The country is embroiled in a Civil War – the Royalists are at war with the Parliamentarians. We decided to support the latter as we didn’t think King Charles I should be making all the important decisions.

The servants gave us an enlightening tour of Colonel Edward Prichard’s home, which was filled with strange and surprising information. We learnt that Colonel Prichard always slept sitting up and therefore his bed was particularly short. We also discovered that the Stuarts used urine to soften their boots and to prevent wrinkles – we all love a multi-tasking product!

The children used lavender, sage and mint to make plague bags – they were wonderfully fragrant but we didn’t think they could prevent this dastardly disease!

The children listened and danced to music, Stuart style of course, during our Music Master workshop. Great fun, but the Stuarts must have got quite hot and sweaty in those itchy, woollen clothes they wore. They enjoyed dressing up in these but decided they preferred their more comfortable, modern-day clothes.

We were all impressed by the range of questions posed by the children and this visit further enhanced their understanding of this exciting period of time.