We visited Upnor Castle on the river Medway today. It is only half an hour from home, but I had never been there and don't think I have heard of it before. Andy told me about it. It has a fascinating history. The pretty village street leads down to the river and castle. I loved the roses round the door of this cottage.
When we got to the castle we were given a guide to events taking place today. We were lucky to have stumbled upon a day of re-enactments of events from the Civil War. There was a skirmish due to be staged at 11.45, but I didn't get that far as I was talking to this lady. She was making some kind of cord when we went into her room and we started talking about that. It was made with a Lucet, and was used for all sorts of clothing purposes as it is strong. The cord making was to while away time as she waited for visitors, her main interest being medicine. She had a variety of plants, some picked the day before, and some dried. She was so interesting as she told me the job of each of the plants. Lots of things used then have turned out to have valid use today-at least their synthesized versions have anyway. A lot of the things she had today were related to wound dressing-matching the events of the day! 
This is her table of dried plants and a few other items. I have done a labelled version-more photo shop fun! (Click on to read them!) The labels are mainly the names. I liked her tale of making poppy syrup-for pain-from following a recipe in a book of the time. She said that the recipe was very vague-'take some of this, take some of that, wait until it looks the right colour', but she wanted to experience making it for herself. There was mandrake root in the pot at the back and I was excited to see that as I have not done so before. I was allowed to smell all of the dried plants-most were pleasant!
Horsetail, Alchemilla Mollils, Meadow sweet(I think), Penny Royal (a small mint like plant), Herb Robert, Plantain-also called Ribwort due to the ribs on the back of the leaf. A number of these were used in wound dressings-fresh wounds-or green wounds-using green plants to cool them I think was part of the plan. I love all the names, and I love the little preparation kit at the back of this photo. A most interesting chat!
There were so many people taking part. There were a lot of children dressed up too which I have not seen before at this kind of thing. Andy saw the skirmish and I heard it!
This is her table of dried plants and a few other items. I have done a labelled version-more photo shop fun! (Click on to read them!) The labels are mainly the names. I liked her tale of making poppy syrup-for pain-from following a recipe in a book of the time. She said that the recipe was very vague-'take some of this, take some of that, wait until it looks the right colour', but she wanted to experience making it for herself. There was mandrake root in the pot at the back and I was excited to see that as I have not done so before. I was allowed to smell all of the dried plants-most were pleasant!
Horsetail, Alchemilla Mollils, Meadow sweet(I think), Penny Royal (a small mint like plant), Herb Robert, Plantain-also called Ribwort due to the ribs on the back of the leaf. A number of these were used in wound dressings-fresh wounds-or green wounds-using green plants to cool them I think was part of the plan. I love all the names, and I love the little preparation kit at the back of this photo. A most interesting chat!
There were so many people taking part. There were a lot of children dressed up too which I have not seen before at this kind of thing. Andy saw the skirmish and I heard it!
