STAFF REVIEW: MEDIEVAL SPORTS TRIO IN HAMPSHIRE

Following on from our adventures at the Medieval Banquet last month, Rina and I kept up the medieval theme by embarking on a Medieval Sport Trio in Hampshire! This weaponry experience day would see us try our hand at not one, not two, but three medieval sports: Archery, crossbows, and axe throwing! Having not tried any of them before, I was a novice at all three sports, whilst Rina recalled that she had practised archery once before in her childhood. This Medieval Sport Trio has a couple of locations in the South West, one in the New Forest (Hampshire) and the other in rural Dorset. Setting off from Brighton on a Wednesday morning, we began our journey to the tiny town of Fordingbridge in Hampshire. The journey took us roughly 2 hours from Brighton, but is just a 25 minute drive from Bournemouth.

Arriving on a rural farm slap bang in the middle of the countryside, we followed signs that led us down a beaten track. The car park was just off the farm, and it would be roughly a 5-minute walk down the hill to arrive at the activity centre. It was here that we were welcomed by Jeffrey, who would be our instructor, and medieval sport expert for the day. We were early for our class, so we wandered around the site to take a look at the different activity areas whilst we waited for the others participating in our session to arrive. As others began to arrive, Jeffrey handed us some waivers to read through and sign before our session started. With those signed and completed, he explained the schedule for the day. We would be kicking off our day with some archery, before moving on to crossbows, and finally axe throwing. The session is 2 hours long, so we would spend half an hour on each activity, with the final half an hour on whichever activities we liked best. 

First of all, we needed to choose and put on our armguards for archery. What is an armguard? An armguard is – you guessed it – used to guard the arm against abrasion when an arrow is released. This is worn on the forearm of your less dominant hand (in my case, my left arm). To find for certain which hand and eye would be dominant, Jeffrey got us to hold our hands up in a triangle shape in front of our faces at an arm’s length. By standing in front of us, he would be able to detect which eye is dominant.

We began the session by learning a brief history of archery, and about each piece of equipment we would be using. Jeffrey was like a walking encyclopedia filled with knowledge all about this medieval sport, so learning various facts from him made the session all the more interesting! Before we got a hold of anything, Jeffrey introduced us to the bows and arrows we would be using. There was an array of different weighted bows, and Jeffrey explained that these would vary for everybody depending on their strength and stature. After picking them up, Jeffrey would come around and assess each of us pulling the bow back in order to check we had the correct sizes. With everything introduced and an idea of the technique, it was time to have a go ourselves! Trying to remember each piece of information we had been taught, Rina and I pulled back and fired our first shots. The time and attention to detail Jeffrey put in with each of us to help us improve upon our technique was immensely helpful, as I didn’t quite get it straight away! We would each have around 3 bows in our stands, and once everybody had fired, we would all proceed to collect them out of the boards (or behind the boards, if you had as bad of an aim as I had!)

As the archery came to an end, Jeffrey moved Rina and I onto the crossbows. Once again, Jeffrey ran through how the weapon worked, as well as throwing in some facts. So, what is a crossbow? A crossbow is an elastic ranged weapon, with a similar principle to the bows we had just used in archery. It is handheld, almost like a long gun, and you load the arrows into the top, take aim and fire by pressing a trigger. Prior to loading, you place the weapon on the floor as you need to pull the bow back in order to set it in place. To do this, we had to lean over, and pull the bow back by standing up straight, lifting with our whole body. It was heavy to pull back as the bow was very taut, so just loading the crossbows felt like a workout! Once we were loaded, we were ready to go. This was a very different technique to archery, as we had a wooden table to rest the weapon upon, and that we had to lean on to get into position. Again, Jeffrey was immensely helpful in improving our techniques, was on hand to coach us, and more than willing answer any questions we had throughout. Rina and I both agreed that we thoroughly enjoyed the crossbows, as it was a piece of weaponry we never thought we’d have a go at firing! Personally, I found the crossbows slightly easier to handle and fire than the archery, although I still managed to fire some over the top of the target!

With our time on the crossbows coming to an end, it was onto our third and final medieval sport for the day: axe throwing! This was hands down the one that Rina and I were most excited for. At first, we thought this would be the one that required the least amount of skill… how wrong we were! This actually turned out to be the trickiest of the three sports. Introducing us to our weapons, Jeffrey explained that the axes we would be using were bespoke to this activity centre, and are handmade by a local blacksmith. Demonstrating with ease, Jeffrey explained the techniques that can be used in axe throwing. To begin, he instructed us to walk up to our targets (large tree trunk pieces) and turn around. Once turned, we were to take three steps forward, then turn back around, marking our spot in the ground with our foot. This was to mark the spot we should throw from. Beginning from behind this mark, we were to take two steps before releasing the axe with an overarm throw. The trick here was not to throw the axe with a huge amount of power, but technique instead. The technique we were aiming for was a ‘rocking horse’ motion, so that the axe would be able to rotate slower and hook into the target. We soon found out this was tricky to master! Jeffrey assured us that as a tricky sport, most people throw around 70-80 axes before beginning to get them in properly. Much to our surprise, after a lot of trial and error, Rina and I both managed to hook in some axes. The feeling of getting one to actually hit the target was an immense one! Despite the difficulty of the axe throwing, this was definitely the sport I enjoyed the most as the satisfaction of getting an axe into the target was so worth it. 

With around 30 minutes of our session left, Jeffrey explained to us that we could now return/stay on any activity of our choice to finish the day. After spending a little more time on axe throwing, Rina and I both decided to have one last shoot of on the archery. This part of the session is great, as you are given free reign to practice on the activity you liked the most. 

Rina and I had a fantastic time at the Medieval Sport Trio in Hampshire, and would highly recommend it for a fun day out in the countryside with family or friends. At only £30 per person, the amount of instruction and time on each activity you receive makes this fantastic value for money, along with friendly and knowledgeable instructors. Available all year round, this session would also make a great birthday or Christmas gift for anybody up for some target sports! We would like to say a huge thank you to Ken for inviting us along, and to our brilliant instructor Jeffrey for a brilliant introduction to Medieval Sport.