Our little guide to
directed activities
Wimpole Estate
Directed activities
for schools
Directed Activities for schools
A variety of directed activities are available to book on
your school visit to Wimpole. These take place at the
Farm and Gardens as half hour sessions for groups of
15-20 children.
Sessions are held from 11am available on
Mondays, Tuesdays & Wednesdays.
There is a charge for these activities please look at the
details for each price. Please book well in advance as
availability is limited.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wimpole
Telephone: 01223 206044
Educational Group Membership (EGM)
For information and prices for Education Group
Membership of the National Trust please visit
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/membership/educational-group-memberships/
You can join the membership if your school/college is
a full time educational school and this can be done on
the day of your visit, or on your preliminary visit.
Please note that we are unable to invoice you for your
membership. With Education Group Membership Hall
and Farm admission is free, it also gives your school
free admission to other National Trust properties.
Joining EGM will probably save your school money,
even on just one visit.
For further information please call 0844 8001895.
Walled Garden Tour KS 1 & 2
Small groups of children are taken on a tour of the
walled garden and interesting features such as the
cloches, water carrier and rhubarb forcing pots are
highlighted. They will learn about the walled garden
and how it was the main source of fruit and vegetables
for the people living on the estate in historical times.
Today the produce is used in the restaurant. The herb
patch is particularly popular and examples of a
number of herbs are passed round for smelling and
any mini-beasts encountered are observed and
discussed.
Curriculum links:
Science: Life and living processes. Green
plants as organisms.
Geography: Food and Farming.
The children learn that the walled garden was the main
source of fruit and vegetables for the people living in
the Hall in historical times. Today the produce is used
in the restaurant.
Interesting walled garden features such as the
Victorian cloches; water carrier and rhubarb forcing
pots and the reconstructed glasshouses are
highlighted.
The principals of companion planting are explained
and any mini-beasts encountered are observed and
discussed.
The herb patch is particularly popular and examples of
a number of herbs are passed round for smelling.
Different vegetables are shown and discussed. Some
of the children grow things at home or school and
experiences and opinions are shared.
Charge: £1.50/child for Education Group Members
£2.00/child for non-members
Sowing, growing, harvest and milling
KS 1 & 2
Historical methods of growing wheat are introduced
to the group using Artefacts such as a seed fiddle,
flails and winnowing baskets to demonstrate the
techniques used. These are contrasted with the
modern machinery that is used today. Towards the
end of the session the children have the opportunity
to mill flour with the hand quern.
Curriculum links:
Geography: Seasons, Food and Farming.
History: Victorians.
Science: Life and living processes. Green
plants as organisms.
RE: Harvest.
Discussion of the Victorian farming-year with the aid
of farm artefacts, these are contrasted with modern
machinery.
The children hear about ploughing of fields and
about protection and growing of wheat, from sowing
through to harvest and milling. Artefacts such as a
seed fiddle, flails and winnowing baskets are
demonstrated to the children.
Modern equivalents of some of the artefacts are used
today in many parts of the world; this is highlighted.
We have modern winnowing baskets from China and a
modern quern from India.
Children have the opportunity to mill flour with the
hand quern.
Charge: £1.50/child for Education Group Members
£2.00/child for non-members
Victorian dairymaid talk with butter
making KS 1 & 2
The session leaders dressed in Victorian costume will
demonstrate dairy artefacts and talk about the life
of Victorian Dairymaids. The children then all make
butter and shape it with butter pats and moulds. This
is a popular session; children are delighted with their
seemingly magical creation of butter. (The children
do not eat their butter because of health and safety
considerations).
Curriculum links:
History: Victorians.
Science: Irreversible processes.
The session takes place in the octagonal, tiled
Victorian Dairy building. The session leaders talk
about the life of a Victorian Dairymaid and
demonstrate the dairy artefacts.
The children all make butter, usually in pairs, by
beating cream in a bowl, shaping their butter using
butter pats and butter moulds.
Charge: £1.75/child for Education Group Members
£2.25/child for non-members
Living and growing session KS 1
The children are involved in a discussion about the
difference between living and non-living things. They
learn about chick development and hatching through
a short story ‘Rosie’s chicks’. They then meet some
chicks and another animal, usually a rabbit.
[Dec 2016 - Due to Avian Flu restrictions there are no chicks to see or handle until futher notice]
Curriculum links:
Science: Ourselves and other animals. Life and
living processes. Reproduction.
The group is prompted to think about things which
living animals do (moving, breathing, 5 senses,
feeding, going to the toilet, having babies, growing).
As the class suggests each of these, a child comes to
the front to hold a cartoon showing the activity. They
see a collection of poultry eggs of different sizes, from
quail to ostrich.
The children are prompted to remember to wash their
hands at the end of the session.
Charge: £1.50/child for Education Group Members
£2.00/child for non-members
Wimpole Estate - Cambridgeshire
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wimpole
SG8 0BW - 01223 206000
© National Trust 2015
The National Trust is an independant registered charity, number: 205846