Children learn sweet secrets of abbey life

Young families learned the sticky secrets of life as a monk during the final summer session of a programme of heritage craft events in Tavistock.

Inquisitive young minds and creative hands were put to work in Tavistock Guildhall courthouse on Wednesday, August 25, where children had a hands-on introduction to herb growing, honey production and weaving.

The youngsters were given a glimpse of the self-sufficient life led by the Benedictine monks of the monastic community which once dominated the architecture and life of Tavistock, before the abbey was dissolved in 1539 under Henry VIII.

Little remains of the building, but there is lots of evidence of how the monks led their day-to-day life as a mini-village within a town.

Session leader Will Turner said: “The children are wonderful to work with. They are so open to new ideas and follow instructions quickly. I’m teaching them all about the lifecycle of the bee as the monks produced their own honey for sale and use as a sweetener and to make mead. We use two attached paper picnic plates and rotate one to show the progression, in several pictorial windows, from pupa to bee and show them honeycombs.”

Will, a former international business school tutor, has also helped children make model Viking galleons, skeletons and a mini-Tavistock from cardboard boxes at previous holiday sessions.

The sessions include a history ‘treasure’ hunt with clues. Mum Hannah took her children Alexandria, two, and Henry, four, to the abbey session: “This is something creative and stimulating for the children to do and they’re really enjoying themselves.”

The sessions are run every summer holiday by the Discovery Team, a group of volunteers from the Tavistock Heritage Trust who bring the local history and mining heritage of Tavistock alive through hands-on family activities, school visits and interactive workshops.