Sealed with a…

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…Knot! 😁 (read on)…

We couldn’t decide whether to go to this event today (Sunday) or tomorrow. A quick check of the Bank Holiday weather forecast helped us make up our! Dry today, raining tomorrow. So that was an easy decision. Ann sorted out all the ingredients for a picnic yesterday, and we woke to an accurate forecast (for once!)

We drove to to nearby Deene Park (the seat of the Brudenell family’s country manor about 5 miles north-east of Corby) to witness Deene Park Plundered! – a Civil War Re-Enactment Society by the well-known The Sealed Knot. The last time we were here to witness the Sealed Knot do what they do best was in May 2019 where we sat in the pouring rain, being typically British, and pretended we were enjoying the spectacle!

The Sealed Knot is the oldest re-enactment society in the UK, a registered educational charity, and the single biggest re-enactment society in Europe. They bring history to life by staging events throughout the country all year round, offering a chance to experience at first hand, the horrors of a nation at war with itself, as well as providing a glimpse of everyday life in those days.

As we arrived, we could see that the car-park was already busy, so surely that was a good sign, even if the weather was now cooling down. Would it rain like the last time we were here? 🤔. With our hands duly stamped by a young and enthusiastic ‘knotter’, we passed through the entrance and found the perfect spot for a great view of the main arena.

The Sealed Knot take these events very seriously, and you can’t knock their pursuit of perfection in everything they do. From the accuracy of their clothing to carefully choreographed battle scenes, ‘winging it’ is just NOT an option. Safety is paramount, obviously, as no-one wants a sprog hit by a cannonball, ehh?! 😯.

In spite of the number of cars in the car-park, it didn’t seem to equate with the number of people actually at the event itself. And as the weather got cooler (but still dry!), the members of the Sealed Knot tried their hardest to keep us all engaged with first, their Drum Display followed by the Cavalry, who drilled, charged and sliced vegetables using their swords whilst on horseback.

Some were more successful than others, and it became immediately obvious that slicing a melon whilst riding a horse takes a bit more skill than mowing the lawn on a Sunday afternoon! 👍. Some of their horses appeared to have been given Red Bull before the show and were proving to be more than a handful in their riders’ experienced hands. Some missed the veg completely, whilst others were frighteningly accurate. One horse in particular (and clearly a vegetarian) took the opportunity to scare its rider by going from a canter to a full-on gallop in about two seconds – where rider and horse were last seen landing in Leicestershire! 😁.

Overall, it was all very professional and well put together, but the lack of visitor numbers and an increasingly cool day robbed the event of its ‘buzz’. After a quick look around and watching the fashion show, after a couple of hours or so, we retreated.

Today therefore, wasn’t one of our best decisions – but at least it didn’t rain! We’ve come to the conclusion that for us, at least, the weather has to be a scorcher to make this worthwhile, and we’ll think even more carefully, next time the Sealed Knot come to Deene Park.