To round off our Victorian context, Primary 6 spent the day at Hopetoun House, we all had a fantastic day being shown around Hopetoun, playing Victorian games, using quill pens, dressing up and taking on a role of a jobs that were at Hopetoun. Our termly school value is Respect and the children demonstrated this throughout the day.
What we thought:
“I really liked it because it was fun to dress up as all the Victorian people and to see what it was like to work and live there in the Victorian times. I also really liked going on the roof because it had a really nice view of the fourth road bridge and a nice view of the pond,”-Elise
“I liked Hopetoun because we got to go on the rooftop and we got to play the role of some people who lived there I was the bumble bee role the bees need to hold the door.”-Paul
“What I liked about Hopetoun house is that we got to get a tour of the house, that we got to dress up as Victorian servants and we also got to do a lot of activities and that we got to go up onto the roof, we got to count the steps up and there were 114 steps and at the end we got to play Victorian games like skipping ropes jack in the box and a lot of other fun games!”-Oliwia
“I loved the trip to Hopetoun house and we got roles, I was the under butler I was the butler but I take the butlers place when he’s busy. We learned about the history of the house went to the roof got different groups and got to race to statues. The path to the statues could only be used by royalty and Queen Elizabeth landed her helicopter there. We learned that from the outside Hopetoun is like a sandwich, the small windows at the top and bottom are like the bread are where the servants would sleep and the middle is the rich like the owner or family.”-Mehmet
“Scullery maids giggled a lot and we giggled all day” but ” the housemaids loved to pretend they “were better than everyone else and the uniform was comfy and pretty” We learned all about chamber pots “pooey” and how footmen had to spend sooooo long standing that they sometimes leaned on the walls – their hats left tiny scratches on the wall. The head butlers were in charge – they loved clapping and calling their staff in a line behind them.
“My Mum and Dad got married in the stables at Hopetoun so it has a special place for me” Maria
” I love the patterns on the ceiling and how we had to see if we can find some faces” Olivia
“The lake looked round but it’s actually oval and its an optical illusion” Mythili
We had a brilliant day at Hopetoun! The staff were so hospitable and looked after us all from the minute we arrived until our coach pulled away in the afternoon. They taught us loads about life both in the middle of the household ‘sandwich’ and on the outside of it, in a Country House in Victorian days.