When the sweater was still a sheep

Blimey and sewn up: It's itchy! This birthday, we're getting up close and personal with the Middle Ages. We will marvel at the fashionable stitches of the nobility and feel the rough clothing style of the peasants on our skin. If you like, you can try on collars and caps.

The spindle dances and the spinning wheel whirs as the museum educators talk about their sewing.

400 years ago, sheep were part of the family and provided the stuff of children's scratchy nightmares. Farmers and maids sheared them, plucked the wool, combed, spun and wove. Finally, the children make a little memento of a wonderful birthday.