News | Mrs Smith’s Cottage

Over the last week we have been spending a little more time in nature, encouraging everyone to celebrate the signs of spring. To follow this we have put together a competition, where you could win yourself a family ticket to Mrs Smith’s Cottage (when we reopen).

We want you to go on a walk, either in your garden or to a local green space, and fill an egg box with items you find interesting. It is important to follow social distancing rules, staying in your family group and staying 2 metres apart from other people, washing your hands as soon as you get home.

With current restrictions it is important that we are all able to make the most of the food we buy, making use of items before they start to go bad and storing food to make it last as long as possible. This not only reduces our impact on waste collection teams, but will also reduce the number of times we need to go food shopping.

Mrs Smith wasted very little food, always making sure to use what she had in the house. Unlike most of our homes today Mrs Smith never invested in a fridge or freezer and was still using her meat safe in the 1990s. Eating seasonally was a large part of this, along with the creation of many different kinds of preserves.

We are delighted to bring you our first Friday craft tutorial led by Nicki Jarvis, our artist in residence. This week she is sharing how she makes the small weekly diaries she uses to record her time spent at the cottage.

This craft has been inspired by Mrs Smith’s diaries. She wrote something in her diary everyday, making a note of what she did throughout each day. Including information about who she spoke to, what she ate, what she watch on TV, and what she planted in the gardens.

We welcome you on a tour of Mrs Smith’s kitchen from the comfort of you own home.

Using photographs, stories from our oral history collection and quotes from Mrs Smith’s diaries, we want to share with you the warmth, care, and knowledge Mrs Smith would have shared with her visitors.