Day Hire

I love to chat - especially about things I'm interested in and passionate about. So if you hire me all day, I will thoroughly enjoy myself!

My full outdoor 'camp' consists of a large awning (where my table is set up), with a small tent to one side which is accessible and viewable to the public. If you don't want the 'camp', I can work indoors/outdoors with minimal equipment.

At the agreed time I will arrive on site and set up my display, which will be active for up to 7 hours. I bring my own lunch and refreshments, but will require a short break to eat and rest. All the same resources are provided as for a preset session - replica and reproduction objects to handle and evidence to look at (plus some extras), and I will go into much more detail and provide a much broader view of the subject.

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The awning (shown without the tent).

My fee is £45 for the first hour and then £15 for every additional hour after that, plus 45 pence per mile travel allowance. Contact me here.

Choose from the following topics:

Braids, Cords, and Plaits - the art of twisting a number of threads together with the fingers to make a variety of Anglo-Saxon, Viking, and Medieval designs.

Medieval Entertainments - board games, nursery rhymes, physical play and games, and toys.

The Leech - covering aspects of medicine from Pagan times up to 1485, including such things as a pagan 'charm for flying venom', how to use Bradmore's Extractor, and what you might pay if you were cured - or not! A specific time period can be chosen for this day, which I will focus on.

Leynor Flaxwyf - flax fiber processing day, covering Anglo-Saxon to Medieval techniques, including spinning demonstrations and the chance to have a go at breaking, scutching and heckling flax.

The Spinster - everything fleece. Collection, washing, picking, carding/combing, and spinning.

Braids, Cords, and Plaits

Teaching a Viking Braid at the Maritime Woodbridge event (outdoors with table). 2005.

A string of braids made by folks at West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village. 2022.

A reconstruction in knitting wool of the 9-strand braid found with an 8th century burial in Orsett, Essex.

The Leech

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The Medieval and the Modern! 2023

Arrow in the Face, Time and Tide Museum. 2011

My replica of Bradmore's Extractor - a tool he designed and had made for extracting the arrow from the Prince's face.

Pagan Anglo-Saxon treatment for a wound! West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village, 2005

Leynor Flaxwyf

Viking Flax - flax mallet based on the textile tool found in the Viking Oseberg ship burial, and a breaking stump.

This person braided their strick of flax to take home.

"The most interesting craftsperson I think for Wel and I today was the lady demonstrating linen production from flax. .... I must say it was one of the best and most informative re-enactment displays I’ve seen in a very long time and a big thanks to the lady for giving so much of her time to explain it to us."

Posted by kazhoney on the Happening History blog: (https://happeninghistory.co.uk/category/crafts/) on April 10th 2016

Day Hire at Craeftiga - Sutton Hoo (7th century)

Above - rippling a bundle of flax over a cloth to collect the seeds at West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village, sometime in the '90's

Left - Happy flax-worker at Harlequin Festival 2023 usin scutching knife and board (an event I did with my group NANMA - Norwich and Norfolk Medieval Association)

Historic Entertainments

Blind Man's Buff from the 14th century Luttrell Psalter.

Stone found in Norwich Castle Well with a Nine Man's Morris layout carved into it.

My game boards are available to buy.

The Spinster

Threads and tools - inset shows my replica glass Anglo-Saxon whorl, 2 fired clay whorls, and an original Medieval lead whorl. (Detling 2025 with Medieval Siege Society)

Spinning Soay fleece in front of my tent. (Kimbolton May 2026 with Medieval Siege Society.)