On Sunday we spent the afternoon at Cosmeston Lakes and Parklands about 15 minutes drive away just on the other side of Penarth. The Parkland contains a reconstructed medieval village that we'd seen on one of Terry Jones' (of Monty Python fame) programs on medieval life. We took a tour of the village led by someone dressed as a Reeve. The word Sheriff comes from Reeve. He was the middle man between Lord and peasants or (in Wales) bondsmen. Sheriff was the Shire-Reeve. He was very informative and we learnt quite a lot about medieval life in about 1/2 an hour, including the types of animal excrement used in building materials (rich in nitrogen which makes it sticky). Conjured up images of Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Oh, isn't this lovely muck!
