Your First Days in Town

 

Day I (Part I):

         

     A timber framed gatehouse looms before you, like a sentinel standing as a portal into the past, as you enter into the Town of Taylor reception room. Scents of freshly barked sap and  clean soil mingle with the aroma of cooking pastries and roasting meats. You’ve heard stories about this place; A Tudor community, that is not merely a Co-op of residents producing their own merchandise, but a thriving historical town where everyone within dresses in period apparel. A place of such immersion, visitors and residents alike are in garb. It is a form of living history town, unlike any other in the world, that is fully functional. It is a small roadside town nestled in lush green forests, where life becomes what you’ve seen in history books and movies. A town reminiscent to those you’ve read about in fantasies, and have wondered on their origins. The Town of Taylor…

 

     Your transformation begins with a smiling face that awaits you in the humble reception room, prior to entering the town. A modest fee includes a set of peasant garb and a cloth bag to put your modern clothing in. You have the choice of renting, or purchasing any level of garb.

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     Before entering the town, you look around the shop. The ‘West Belle’ is the name of this place, and you notice then that the reception room is also a clothier. There is a full variety of colors and styles to choose from at each turn of your head, to better suit your personality. You could dress as a merchant, a traveller, a troubadour, or even a noble if you choose! ‘Garb’, is included in the entrance fee… however, having your own garb drastically reduces an already conservative price for entry. This town, in dynamics alone, is already proving very interesting! Once changed into your new garb, you enter into the town. Walking across the threshold of the West Belle, and immerse yourself in the Renaissance world…

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Some come for the day, some stay the weekend in the period cottages, but you have a week long reservation to stay in the ‘Belladonna Inn’ for the ultimate experience. An entire week of excitement, of relaxation in the town, and of the most fantastic food in the inn. Of actually time traveling to the 1500’s Europe!

 

 

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Day I (Part II):

         

            Dirt flattened streets lay before you, as you make your way out of the West Belle clothiers, dressed in a magnificent azure blue merchants garb. What strikes you initially, even before the beautiful white-washed buildings framed with ochre wood, or the daub and wattle out-structures that hold who knows what, is the amazing green backdrop of forests in the distance. The sky is the same wonderful blue as your garb.

 

            Looking into the mountains around, you realize that the removal of modern distractions is wonderful. No sights and sounds of today! There are no cell phones or tablets visible, and no cameras recording instead of enjoying. This is why you came to the town of Taylor, to experience not only what is it like to walk into the past, but to get away entirely. There is both peace and excitement here. You truly have stepped through a time machine into the past, and the feeling is unlike anywhere else on earth today!

 

            Those dirt-flattened streets are bordered on both sides by a blacksmith’s tink-tinking on an anvil, by the baker’s open doors allowing the wondrous aroma of fresh bread to invade your nose, and by various other shoppes. There are merchants in the buildings, people in the streets, and the road lay ahead. The clothing on everyone, residents and patrons alike, match the period.

 

            In the distance, at the end of a main street that veers to the left and right for more travel, is the town’s tavern. The inn is upstairs in that tavern, and that is where you will call home for the next week… After slowing to gaze into the windows of a few shoppes on the road, glancing at the wonderful creations for sale, you make your way to check in at the Belladonna Inn. There will be plenty of time to view the wares, if not to purchase, but to admire and learn about.

 

            It is breakfast time, the smells in the air outside the Belladonna are heavenly: Ham, and peppers, and eggs, and pears, and tea…

 

            … And boy, are you hungry!?