ONE of the most atmospheric and delightful Tudor manor houses in the area, Athelhampton, at Puddletown, hosts a week of events during half term on the theme of Tudor lives. From Monday 28th October to Friday 1st November, daily from 10am, visitors can get a taste of the sights, sounds and smells of Tudor life.

Tudor Week is one of the occasional series of living history events held at Athelhampton. The living history specialists take on a wide variety of roles, reflecting the different layers of society who lived and worked at the manor, from the Martyns and their friends among the gentlefolk to th4e servants who made their lives easier.

Activities through the week range from tasting Tudor food to dancing, from what people wore to writing with a quill, or even trying the Tudor version of football!

There are events around the house and in the gardens, crafts, music and even archery.

Despite additions and changes over the centuries, the beautiful house we see today is still largely the Tudor manor built by Sir William Martyn, a land-owner and collector of wine duties at Poole, over the latter years of the 15th and early 16th centuries.

Around 1485 Sir William built Athelhampton Hall, and received a licence to enclose 160 acres of deer park and fortify his manor with walls of stone and lime and to build towers and crenellate them. As living standards became more domesticated, with separate eating, cooking, living and sleeping quarters, Robert Martyn built the West Wing and a gatehouse in the early 16th century.