Youngsters of various ages turned history detectives when they took part in workshops full of fun and play in Tavistock.

The creative workshops for ‘young explorers’ took place in the town’s historic Guildhall courtroom as part of Tavistock Heritage Open Days (September 12-21) which comprised a look behind the scenes of various buildings.

The workshops invited children of primary school age and younger to step back in time with a hands-on experience set in the atmospheric wood panelled court room.

There they learned through play and art about life in the former abbey which dominated the town physically and in commerce, law and various businesses during the Middle Ages and of which ruins remain in the historic town centre.

They learned about the monks’ sweet secrets of beekeeping, growing their own plants and how to build a mini abbey.

The workshop helped the children to learn about three areas of life in Tavistock Abbey, beautiful script-writing, herb-growing and beekeeping.

Maggi Penrose, from the Tavistock Heritage Trust discovery team, said the event had proved to be a great success.

“The day at the Guildhall was part the National Heritage Open Days event. The theme we chose was 'Living in the Abbey' and the children were learning three skills which the monks in Tavistock would have been familiar with, beekeeping, herb growing and script writing,” she said.

“The Tavistock Beekeeping Association supported the event with an observation hive of busy bees. A local calligrapher brought examples of her work and helped the children with their illuminated scripts. Parents stayed and joined in with activities. There were 170 visitors during the day of which about 50 were children taking part in the various activities.”