boscobel is a really exciting place to
visit
and we call it the house that saved the
king
basketball is hugely significant because
it was here at oscar bell
that an amazing story happened during
the civil war
which had been raging for nine years in
england
king charles ii was defeated at the
battle of worcester
and literally had to flee for his life
charles ii hid both in the house
and then also in this oak tree in the
field outside
which is now known as the royal oak
i think it's just amazing that if he
hadn't hidden here he wouldn't have then
later escaped over to france and been
crowned king of england
the work that we've been doing at
boscobel will help to benefit future
generations or visitors
at english heritage we want to bring
history to life and we've done that at
boscobel in several different ways
hide and seek is the theme here at
boscobau house
so there's lots of new interpretation in
the house new ways of hiding
and seeking to find out parts of the
story
one thing i'm really excited about with
the project is our
new interpretation in the house with an
electronic candle
which visitors will collect on entry and
then as they go round in each room
there'll be a place to place the candle
and it will trigger something to happen
so it might be the fire crackling in the
parlor
or the knocking of parliamentarian
troops on the door in the entrance hall
and that's going to be really engaging
for families
we've planted 32 oak trees in the oak
tree field
so once these trees have grown and
matured you'll be able to see this whole
area
as charles ii would have seen it every
tree we grow
from the grafting process is a replica
of the original tree perfectly
genetically
it's very important that we conserve the
special places in our care
and a lot of the work we've done over
the last year or two
has been conservation work on the site
and conservation work in the gardens and
the grounds
the paint colours that we use are the
original paint colours the fencing
and the paneling around the site are oak
which would have originally been from
the local woodland which would have been
oak trees
we've introduced a new play area again
with that hide and seek theme running
all the way through it it's not any old
playground
and to see a family running around
enjoying that space enjoying that time
learning a bit of history at the same
time was really
a great moment it's not just the story
of the king
it's very much the story of ordinary
people
and their lives and work at boscobel
this was a really
perfect dairy farm during the victorian
period
the forest was cleared and it was full
of animals and dairy
a lovely almost idyllic victorian scene
as a farmyard here
part of the history of basketball which
hasn't been told in our visitor
experience in the past and that's a part
which we're really bringing to life
especially through the costumed
characters which will be
wandering around boscobel interesting
stories
that have come up with have been around
the victorian farm and when you look
around the buildings that we've got on
site you realise
how big a landscape they were farming
so the aim of this project was to bring
boscoble to life
literally by reintroducing the lost farm
animals
will enable our visitors to really
experience the victorian farm
we've decided to introduce tamworth pigs
rylan sheep shropshire sheep
ducks and chickens to recreate that farm
setting
it's becoming a day out for all the
family to enjoy
to find out its many secrets and just to
relax have a nice time with the children
and a nice cup of tea and a scone in the
tea room afterwards
we are really excited for people to come
back and see
what we have on offer here the new play
area the gardens that have been restored
the animals our new interpretation
scheme it's really bringing bosca bell
to life
and you can come here and you can stand
literally
where history really happened
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