Forgot to teach DD about history. Ideas for a summer of Tudors please.

[MrsJoyless]

I am aware that this parenting fail may shock you, but now DD has a long summer holiday from her science degree so I think I have just enough time to cram "The Tudors". Does anyone have any suggestions for suitable DVDs, lightweight historical novels or days out, please?

Horrible Histories Henry VII song

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey is about Richard III but is quite good on the start of the Tudors.

Sulgrave Manor. And pick a Hampton Court day when there are children's activities - they have the dressing-up gear in adult sizes too.

Dd and I had a whale of a time doing Tudor cookery from period texts available online - try The Goode Huswife's Jewell. (We made a cut-laid tart, A Tarte of Wardens, apelmoyse, snowe and a bunch of other stuff.)

I'm a science grad who missed out on history at school and now as an adult am slowly discovering it all! The good thing is it will always be there

Love the top floor of the national portrait gallery, try and time it with one of the gallery tours where they explain the significance of each painting. And also second Hampton Court - when I went they had actors playing different scenes surrounding the birth of Edward VIII at various times of the day which was great fun and really bought it all to life - plus you had the option of wearing a 'Tudor robe' which let the actors know you were happy to interact with them... I introduced myself as the Duchess of Hackney

Definitely the globe. They're doing King Lear in August and there's an exhibition & tour you can do as well

Sutton House is pretty cool if you're planning a London visit. As is Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge you can easily get to on the train from central London and combine with a lovely walk in the forest

For a general overview of UK history I bought myself the DVD box set of Simon Schama's History of Britain which I very much enjoyed. Might re-watch actually. There's loads of this type of series.

Will look for the Cate Blanchett film sounds good!

Defo Kentwell Manor & Phillipa Gregory, which is hard to put down & much more summer holiday reading than Wolf Hall.

The Cate Blanchett films and the Lucy Worsley Six Wives are available on Amazon video if you have it, just added them to the watch list on my phone tho so not sure how much they are, usually pretty cheap tho

A visit to Pembroke castle where Henry Tudor (Hari Tidur in Welsh) was born? The White Queen Series? I also love the Horrible History books (I'm Head of Eng!) and of course you have to cover Shakespeare, who wrote most of his plays for Elizabeth 1st.

You should definitely have a day at Kentwell, because then you will meet meeeee and DH and the DDs, acting a lower class Tudor family. It's an amazing place - like time travelling, 200-300 Tudors recreating a Tudor manor at 1600 (end of reign of Elizabeth I). All in the first person, so you don't see 21st century people explaining what "they" used to do, you meet real Tudors actually doing Tudor things (baking, playing instruments, singing, chopping wood, making cheese, butter, beer, dying wool, metal work, looking after animals, sewing, weaving, spinning, practising their archery, and loads more) and talking to you about their lives.

c.j. Sansom books, S. J. Parris?

All fictional, but set in Henry Viii's time

...and a proper guided tour at hampton court

This is brilliant, so many suggestions, and I haven't discounted anything yet. Following the Elizabeth DVD fiasco, my new rule is to wait for two recommendations before, but it looks as if I should go ahead with "The Red Queen" as the starting point. We are closer to Portsmouth than Kentwell, and I am not sure the dates work, but not ruled out. It's great to have an actual Tudor on the thread.

"The Tudors" tv series has the added bonus of Jonathan Rhys Meyers; though I have to admit I gave up after a couple of series.

The Other Boleyn Girl etc , if rather a girly and sensational take on events. Open Air Shakespeare performances. The Globe, Barbican, Stratford upon Avon?

Do it want to visit the Exhibition at the Globe? It's £14 on top of the ticket.

Sorry OP, that's my bad - that post should have said "although historically inaccurate" sodding phone.

They aren't appalling in their inaccuracies - they portray her relationships with Walsingham and Cecil fairly well and goes into the whole "you must marry" fandango. It takes artistic license with her affair with Robert Dudley and portrays it as being an actual "thing" rather than a was-it/wasn't-it scenario.

You also see the issues with the Duke of Norfolk which I thought was quite well done...

Don't forget Mary Tudor, England's first Queen.

Henry VIII's sisters are also interesting characters in themselves, they had interesting lives as periphery royals.

Bess of Hardwick is a fascinating woman, a contemporary of Elizabeth I. If you can get to Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire (National Trust) it's well worth it.

Arbella Stuart is another interesting semi-royal of the time.

And if you can visit London, the Tower is a good place to go - see Henry VIII suit of armour (he was a big man!), and where Anne Boleyn is buried. Hampton Court is the best place for total Tudor Immersion.

What a fun summer!

Does the exhibition still include a visit to the Rose theatre excavations?

Thank you again for the many suggestions. Anything with two votes is a serious contender. Think we will do Hampton Court on my day off next week. I remember Jean Plaidy books from my youth, do they still work? I am now looking for a timeline or family tree poster.

I've got Jane Bingham's 'The Tudors - The Kings and Queens of England's Golden Age' on Kindle (only 98p!) and found it easy to read and informative.

www.amazon.co.uk/Tudors-Kings-Queens-Englands-Golden/dp/1848378025/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1500652380&sr=8-3&keywords=tudor+kings+and+queens&tag=mumsnetforum-21

National Portrait Gallery's Tudor collection here and guides to the Tudor period [[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/pick-ups here].

Sorry, that last bit went wrong:

National Portrait Gallery's Tudor collection here and guides to the Tudor period here.

Henry 8th DVD with Ray Winstone !! It's fantastic

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0000DK4NO/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500653907&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=henry+8th+dvd&dpPl=1&dpID=519J57B9KWL&ref=plSrch&tag=mumsnetforum-21

The National Portrait Gallery leaflets are perfect. Will aim to pick those up in person. Any more votes for the Ray Winstone film? Many thanks to all of you.

It's good because you can watch it in episodes!! So not too much at once, I'm a Tudor geek though. The white queen is also good and I learnt a lot about wars of roses etc but it is quite dramatised x!!!

I love the Philippa Gregory books for Tudor stuff.

Hampton court is doing a free play of scenes from Henry and Ann Boleyn at the moment