Play Barn & Coffee Bar
Vale Farm Play Barn is host to our fun indoor soft play area for 2 to 10 year olds, perfect for family fun whatever the weather.
Don't miss out on our fun two storey indoor soft play area with baby and toddler area, rope bridge, scramble net, viewing tunnels, wacky slides and more! Also, sit back and watch the kids wearing themselves out in the coffee bar area, which sells a range of yummy snacks including sandwiches, delicious cakes and slices, crisps, chocolate bars and a selection of hot and cold drinks including new for this year - slush puppies.
The History of Vale Barn
Here at Kent Life we are sympathetic to the heritage of all of our historic buildings and the Barn is no exception. The new indoor play area is freestanding only being bolted to the floor so no damage has been created to the walls or the eaves.
The Barn was built in the 18th century for Vale Farm near Calcott, north of Canterbury. It was rescued from vandalism and neglect in 1984 and re-built at the museum in 1989.
The Barn itself It is a five bay aisled barn, with an oak frame, softwood exterior weatherboarding, and the roof is thatched in reed. The floor would have been made of a mixture of earth, clay and dung, beaten to provide a smooth hard surface for threshing corn.
The draught throughout the open doors of the barn would have assisted the threshing process. Corn was threshed in autumn and winter. Several men would stand in a circle and use flails to beat the crop on the threshing floor. The grain was next winnowed, using baskets to throw the grain into the air so the wind could blow away the chaff.
The first threshing machine was introduced in 1732, powered by water. In the 19th century steam and tractor-driven versions followed. Threshing machines could weigh up to three tons and were expensive to buy. They were often owned by contractors who would move from farm to farm with the machines as required. Today, combine harvesters, first developed in the 1920s, carry out all this work for the farmer.
