(Humming)
Good day to you, and welcome to the Fortin's house on French Street, Southampton
Our home and wine shop
My name is Marion and I live here with my husband, esteemed wine seller John Fortin
and our two children - Edward and Joanna
Not forgetting our dutiful servants, the boy Thomas, and house servants, Adam and Anna
You've caught me at a good time. We're celebrating the safe arrival of our wine fleet from Gascony in France
Fortunately they managed to avoid the hands of those wretched Breton pirates this time!
While Master Fortin is busy with deliveries, is there anything you'd like to ask me?
- Hi I'm Toby, and I'm 10 years old - Good day to you
- What's it like living on French Street? - Well, it's always full of life
You can smell the sea air and hear the cargo being unloaded from the great ships arriving here daily at the port of Southampton
You'll find many merchants living around here
Some export corn, others wool or even woven cloth to ship to Bordeaux
Of course, we make our trade here in wine
And keep ourselves very busy in our shop, selling wine by the pint to our customers
Hi I'm Lucia and I'm 11 years old. Is it true that you make wine by crushing grapes with your feet?
Yes, indeed! The grapes are crushed in huge vats by foot
I understand the whole village sometimes gets involved
I hope that answers your question, who'd like to go next?
- Hi, my name's Alisha and I'm 8 years old - I'm delighted to meet you
What's your typical day like?
As woman of the household, I only have a few servants, so our days are very busy
Anna and I are up at dawn to set to work scouring the house to keep it free from dust
Then there's always food to prepare for dinner, pewter to polish, tables to set for supper
and linens to launder for our chamber upstairs
When I'm not serving customers in the shop, I may even do some accounting by tying knots in string
Each knot represents 12 pennies, or a shilling, you see
You can never be too careful with so much wealth in the house
And of course I have to care for our two children, school them, teach them how to cook and run a household
Come, I have some linens I must take to our chambers upstairs
Now, what other questions did you have for me?
- Hi, I'm George and I'm 11 years old - Hi, I'm Hal and I'm 9 years old
- Greetings, how can I be of service?
- How old is your house? - Does it have a lot of rooms?
Our house was built in the year 1290
My husband had it constructed using profits from our business
We're very proud of the wine shop at the front
Then there's a kitchen at the back where we prepare food for the family
A wine cellar downstairs, and then on this floor our two chambers where we sleep
This is the master chamber overlooking the street
And there's another at the back for the children
And then downstairs, the main hall where I dine with Master Fortin and the children
- Thank you Mistress Fortin - Thank you!
- Hi, I'm Hattie and I'm 10 years old - Welcome
- How wealthy are you?
Master Fortin and I enjoy a very good life here in Southampton
And are able to provide well for our children and servants
Indeed, last year we made the handsome sum of 250 pounds selling wine!
That's a thousand pennies a week!
Most of our earnings are made here in the shop, selling wine by the jug at a penny a pint
But those more affluent folk will only buy our hippocrass, a very sweet wine at six pence a pint
We always keep our cellar well stocked, as we don't like to disappoint our customers
I hope that answers your question. Who's next?
Hi, I'm Poppy and I'm 10 years old
God's blessings be upon you
Does your house get cold?
As you'll see we have a great many fireplaces in our home
It takes a lot of fuel, mind, heating a house with two floors
The kitchen fire is always well lit, day and night,
And now that winter is coming, we'll light the fireplace in the hall as well, which keeps the whole house lovely and warm
Besides, I never feel the cold going up and down those stairs all day!
Thank you, goodbye
Hi, I'm Bibi and I'm 7 years old and what's your favourite room in the house?
Ah, come with me, let me show you
Here we are, this is our main hall. Unlike our neighbours on French Street,
we have a stone fireplace here instead of a central hearth
This means we can heat the whole house whilst keeping out the smoke
Smell that? Fresh air!
Our guests always admire the white lime wash walls and our brightly coloured furniture
Then of course you must take a closer look at the grand estate cloth
It was made especially for my husband
And symbolises his status as freeman and a merchant with allegiance to the city of Southampton and the crown
Now, I must send Anna out to buy fish at the market
It's Friday you see, fish day, and I thought we could have baked herring for dinner
It's been a pleasure to meet you