Cowdray Ruins - Robert May Day

"6-7 May 2007 was a two day celebration of Stuart life at Cowdray with cooking of recipes from the Robert May cookery book as well as displays of life in the Stuart times.

Robert May was the cook at Cowdray in the 1630s and he later wrote the cookery book "The Acomplisht Cook" . May's book was one of the first cookery books in the English Language and May was famous in his day as some of the celebrity chefs are today."

The Wardour Garrison moved into the grounds of the Cowdray Ruins to help with this re-enactment of Stuart times.

The kitchen came alive with the cooking from Robert May's cookbook. The aromas of Pease Pottage, Skink, Rice Pudding and Boiled Bacon were just some of the dishes whetting the appetite of visitors who popped in on the Monday.

Jumble biscuit and Hippo Cris wine were also there to be tasted.

While food was being prepared other members of the garrison were lace making, doing the laundry or protecting the ruins.

“The Wardour Garrison is a group of enthusiastic people who enjoy leaving their more conventional lives behind to re-create life as it might have been during the Seventeenth Century.”