Alas for Colchester this took place in the filthiest weather we've experienced in a long time. The rain, on already damp ground, fell steadily from the mid afternoon on Friday when everyone was putting up tents through to late the following night. The walkways and aisles, which are normally sunkissed with Summer warmth, were ankle deep quagmires of slithery mud. However, hooray for the organisers and the great British public, who came armed with umbrellas and clad in wellies. On the Sunday bales of hay were delivered and these helped immensely.

Despite this minor difficulty we all had a great time: the devout sisters and Mother Abbess of the famous foundation at Barking in Essex continued their journey home from a relic swapping pilgrimage to Walsingham. Our helpful men servants worked hard to keep the cooking fires lit, and if they preferred to help the young, attractive nuns I'm sure it was solely because they were doing all the cooking!

On the Sunday, hearing that a wrestling match was to take place between bare chested men, the Mother Abbess sought to intervene.  Despite the show of holy indignation the crowd elected to let the men continue their fight, so the nuns retreated - but only after the men servants had rounded up the young nuns who were concerned to stay and help should any be hurt - or at least that was the reason they gave afterwards.

Members of the public heard about simple medicines of the time, religious belief and faith in relics in the medieval period, and saw a variety of the skills which nuns would have used to support their community, ranging from calligraphy to weaving. Each day there were informal talks to small groups on the food and manners of the period.