Coggeshall Farm

Spring Break is upon us! Sadly, spring itself refuses to completely arrive. With temperatures barely reaching the low 50s and two rainy days this week, it really doesn't feel like we're quite there yet. We had glorious 60 degrees on Saturday, but that was just tease, with a return to low 30s for Sunday, and even a quick spell of snowfall. But adventures lay ahead!

Since I haven't posted any of our adventures here for a long while, allow me to recount adventures of the past.

In September 2015 we had a great day at Coggeshall Farm Museum. This is working farm, where things are done as if it was the 18th century. The buildings are time period accurate, and staff wears traditional 18th century middle class farmers attire. They have chickens, goats, cows, sheep (which get sheared in late May), and a couple very friendly cats. They also have a heirloom garden, and they make their own maple syrup (they have maple sugaring programs, but we keep missing them).

On our first visit we showed up early for a special "help us start the day!" program, and it was very fun! We got to help carry water in from the well (ok, only Josh carried water, the rest of us carried empty buckets), and the kids got to feed the chickens. Oh yes, and pet the very friendly cats.

Two years ago, almost to the day, the kids and I visited again for an event. It was a lot busier, but not terribly. We got to attempt to spin wool (not the easiest skill to learn in 20 minutes!), and we got to try a special potato and apple pie (if you think that doesn't sound like a great combination, you'd be right, but it was a popular stable in the late 18th century, or so we were told). We also got to play a few games of The Graces, a 19th century game that was very popular with youngsters. I'd like to point out it was a beautiful, spring day. A good short sleeves, short pants, dress kinda day.

As it is two years later, it was time to revisit this wonderful place. Being Spring Break, it sounded like a good place to be. My mistake of believing library website (saying the farm was open on weekdays) over the actual farm site (saying it was only open weekends), turned out to be a wonderful stroke of luck. So yes, ok, we didn't get to see the reenactors and inside the main house (something Evan specially was not happy about), but we got there just a someone on staff was doing a private walk-through with insurance people. She noticed us waiting for "opening time" (we were a few minutes early, or so we thought), and she told us we could walk right in and explore the grounds, no problem.

And so we did. We got the whole place to ourselves (minus the insurance people). And because that staff member was doing the tour, we got to see the chickens and turkey come out, and the big fat sheep, followed by the sweetest and jumpiest little baby sheep (you could see it appear over the stone fence in joyous jumps).

Evan got to pet a goat, caught off guard by the familiarity of said staff member. And the cats, oh, the cats. They are clearly missing the summer crowds, as they were walking with us, at the ready for a petting session.

We even got to rescue a couple of very fluffy sheep, who got trapped in the chicken coop after the wind closed the door behind them. I wish I had taking a picture, as they came out in full distress, charging out that door, just after I told Evan to move out of the way. Clearly, everyone's safety was my priority, but I assure you, there's footage in my mind. What can I say, sheep look funny when distressed!

After our last visit two years ago, we loved that game of The Graces so much, we bought ourselves a pair. And the kids wanted to bring it to play there again. And we all played, and it was so fun.

The sun came out, and it actually felt warm. Mind you, not warm enough to lose the coats. As I mentioned before, spring refuses to fully arrive. But it was a nice morning adventure. The first of this spring break!