[Harlaxton ’11] Woodland Merriment Abounds at Robin Hood Festival

by Caroline Stivers

This morning we got up bright and early to head down to breakfast and then get on the road to go to the Robin Hood Festival in Sherwood Forest. While there we saw all sorts of medieval things from jesters to singing plague victims.

Upon our arrival we watched two incredibly silly jesters. They did things like juggle bowling pins with a person standing in between them and eating fire. After they finished their show we headed over to the jousting arena. Here we watched an amazing falconry show. During this we saw a vulture, two hawks and an owl. They did tricks like finding hidden mice and catching mice when they were thrown in the air. While the owl was doing this they were playing Hedwig’s Theme which made it about 10 times more awesome than it already was.

After the falconry show was over we hung around the jousting arena a little longer until the jousting tournament started. During this we got to see knights joust and sword fight. For the finale we saw a face-off between Sheriff and his enemy, Robin Hood, with Robin Hood, in the end, winning.

Next, we headed on over to Major Oak and saw Major Oak Mayhem. Starting this show off were the Singing Plague Victims. These were two dreadful people with sores and very long noses that reminded me very much of Pinocchio. While they sang their humorous songs they also played the trumpet and accordion. The next act after them was a fire eating and blowing pirate. He started his act off by asking a woman to come take his clothes off while he danced around. Then he started his real act by eating fire off of two torches and then fire blowing.

After this we started back towards the bus. On our way back we encountered a medieval peasant who tried to give us free kisses, which is a discount from his usual £2.50. Then, we headed back to Harlaxton Manor to prepare for class and prepare for our trip to London.