A FAMILY at a National Trust property have entered a room only to find their exit barred by an individual in period costume with a mission to educate.
The Bradfords visited Radley Hall to get a bit of fresh air, poke around the second-hand bookshop and enjoy a cheese scone, but instead are being forcibly informed about its history in the most excruciating way.
Mum Emma said: “The sun was out, there’s a day to kill before the England game and we all needed a phone break. I thought it would be relaxing. More fool me.
“Drizzle forced us into the house and the kitchen, where it happened. A middle-aged woman in a corset and an apron insisted her name was ‘Peggy’, that she was born in 1753 and that unless ‘the Master’s tea was ready’ she would ‘get a flogging’.”
“It felt like we’d walked into a failing relationship’s attempt to resuscitate itself with sexual roleplay. We tried to back away but she cornered us and we had to watch her make ‘figgy pudding’. In July.
“We were saved by another family, escaping while she approached them bow-legged for a candle-making demonstration. We’re shaken but okay. The children assured me they haven’t learned anything. Thank God.”
Retired teacher Susan Traherne, who plays Peggy, said: “Without me, nobody would understand that people lived in these houses but in times not like today.
“Unfortunately the Trust won’t let me sleep here but if I could I would. For maximum realism, not because my house is a dilapidated bungalow filled with cats.”
