ENJOY EASTER AT THE WEALD & DOWNLAND OPEN AIR MUSEUM

Activities for all the family: Easter Sunday and Monday 4 & 5 April; and Wednesday 7 & 14 April 2010

The Weald & Downland Open Air Museum at Singleton, near Chichester, West Sussex, has four special days of events and activities planned for the Easter break. The activity days are a focal point for families to enjoy the Museum during the school holidays, with arts, crafts, games, and entertainment designed to appeal to all ages. There will be demonstrations of traditional Tudor Easter preparations and cooking in Winkhurst Tudor kitchen, and in other buildings there will be similar demonstrations from Stuart and Victorian times.

The celebrations begin on Easter Sunday and Monday 4 & 5 April, with two days of traditional activities. On Sunday this will include egg painting and egg rolling, as well as other crafts and games. On Easter Monday, the Museum will be continuing its long-standing bonnet making competition, which culminates with the judging and grand parade in the Museum’s Market Square at 4pm. Visitors will also be treated to a Punch and Judy show during the day.

Over the following two weeks, the Museum will for the first time be running two Wonderful Easter Wednesdays for younger visitors, on Wednesday 7 & 14 April. The two days will follow a similar format to the well-established programme of Wonderful Wednesdays that run during the schools’ summer holidays. Activities will include outdoor games, storytelling, a museum trail, arts and crafts, and Victorian and Tudor themed things to do.

The Easter school holidays from Friday 2 to Sunday 18 April are a delightful time to visit, with spring in the air, traditional breed farm animals including new spring lambs,
horses and working cattle undertaking seasonal tasks. Visitors to the Museum will be able to enjoy all of the Museum’s exhibits, which include over 45 historic buildings, rescued from destruction and carefully reconstructed in the heart of the new South Downs National Park. There will be a chance to visit the Museum’s authentic Tudor kitchen, and 17th century watermill, which will be grinding flour sold in the shop and used in the café. Children will love the woodland walks and feeding the hungry ducks on the lake with grain from the mill.

Henry Warner, Head of Operations at the Museum commented: “The activities over the Easter holidays offer something for all the family to enjoy. Easter is a wonderful time to make the most of a springtime visit, and take advantage of a wide variety of special activities.”

The Museum is open over Easter from 10.30am to 6pm, with special activities running from 11am to 4pm. It is open on Wednesdays and weekends until 28 February, from 1 March it is open daily. Opening hours are 10.30am to 6pm during British Summer Time, and 10.30 to 4pm during the rest of the year. Admission prices for 2010 are adults £9, over 60s £8.15, children £4.80, family £24.75, under 5’s free.

Background information

The award-winning Weald & Downland Open Air Museum has over 45 historic building exhibits and is designated by the Government for the outstanding importance of its collections. Exhibits include a medieval farmstead; a working watermill producing wholemeal stoneground flour; exhibitions focusing on traditional building techniques and agriculture; historic gardens, farm livestock and a working Tudor kitchen. The Museum runs a well-established schools programme, and an adult learning programme of courses in building conservation and rural crafts. There is a café which uses the Museum’s own flour and a shop with gifts and books on countryside and buildings themes. The modern Downland Gridshell houses the Museum’s building conservation centre and artefact collection; there is a daily tour at 1.30pm when the Museum is open, and an appointments system for visits to the collections for research purposes.

Note to editors: Reporters and photographers welcome. For further information and photographs contact Cathy Clark, Marketing Officer on 01243 811363, fax 01243 811475, email marketing@wealddown.co.uk . Further details about the Museum and its activities are also available on the Museum information line on 01243 811348, or at www.wealddown.co.uk .

19.01.10