Morwellham Quay

Eager to eke out every last relaxing minute of our holiday, we travelled home on Saturday via Morwellham Quay in Devon.

If you were a fan of the BBC2 series Edwardian Farm, which aired late last year, you will know that this was the location for the show, where the team spent a whole year living the life of farmers of the Edwardian age.

Morwellham Quay, on the River Tamar, was once the most important port in England, but as the copper supply ran out after decades of mining, the port slowly became abandoned. Now a world heritage site, it is slowly being brought back to how it once would have looked.

There are plenty of interesting exhibits to enjoy, where history really does seem to come to life.

There's the assayer's and miners cottages...

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The village shop...

Watch the potter making traditional Morwellham pots on an authentic 1920's wheel.

Take a trip underground into the George and Charlotte Copper Mine, on the railway...

Or pay a visit to Ruth's Cottage...

Named after historian Ruth Goodman, who spent a year living in the cottage experiencing life as an Edwardian woman, and learning how it was important to diversify during a decade of huge social change.

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If you take the official tour, you will also learn of the real Victorian and Edwardian inhabitants that the cottage had been home to.

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Many of the other 'stars' of the show can be seen up at the farm yard (in reality not just outside the cottage as it appeared on TV, but a short walk up a lane from the village centre)...

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It was the perfect place to round off our holiday.

In fact I was very inspired by the talk given by the guide at Ruth's Cottage, where she explained how the pine table in the kitchen, which would have been the only work surface in this hard working space, would have been scrubbed daily with hot water and bicarbonate of soda.

When I got home, I decided to try this method on our rather dingy kitchen table. Slightly ashamedly, I confess to usually only wiping it over after mealtimes with a damp cloth, and mostly hiding it under a tablecloth.

But after a bit of elbow grease and some bicarb, the surface was much improved...

Worth the effort, and hopefully I shall be able to keep it looking this good - It should only need a scrub with the white stuff now and then to keep it looking Victorian clean!

Niki x