YOUNG housemates emerged yesterday fresh from the experience of their first day of life back in the 1840s.
A total of 24 teenage volunteers are spending four days in Featherstone Castle in Northumberland dressing, working and living as their ancestors did 170 years ago.
To enter the 1840s Big Brother house they have had to leave “essentials” such as electricity, TV, mobile phones, computers, convenience foods and duvets behind.
The venture is part of the Time Travel Northumberland project based at Woodhorn Museum and Northumberland Archives, which is backed by NE- Generation and the Legacy Trust UK.
A planning team of youngsters from schools across the county researched the archives at Woodhorn and came up with the 1840s idea.
One of the housemates, 15-year-old Ioni Hunter from Ashington High School said: “I love history and I thought this would be the experience of a lifetime.
“We have had to adapt to leaving technology behind and I do miss my mobile phone and not being able to check my texts. We have been baking and making our own singing entertainment but at night it was pitch black and freezing with just blankets.
“I think the experience will help me not take things for granted in the future.”
Rebecca Flynn, 17, also from Ashington, said: “I thought life in the 1840s would be very different and boring and I was a bit nervous and excited at the same time.”
Andrew Clough, 15 , from Morpeth, who is one of the 12-strong planning team which is helping to run the project, said: “It is a very different experience but the housemates are managing to adapt.
“I think they will leave with a lot of knowledge about a time when people lived without the technology we have now.”
Woodhorn creative mentor Juliet Hardy said: “They have been doing domestic chores and I don’t think they anticipated how long it would take to prepare and cook their dinner.
“It was a very hectic day and they were pretty much exhausted by 8pm but they got a second wind when they did some music-making to provide their own entertainment.
“What did emerge is how much they rely on modern gadgets like mobile phones and hair straighteners.”
Keith Merrin, director of the Woodhorn Trust, said: “This innovative project will be a positive experience combining learning with having a great time. Woodhorn encourages young people to be inspired by history.
“The project also enables young people to imaginatively research the Northumberland Archives held at Woodhorn, which are such a fantastic resource of stories and are often under-valued.”
The project is being documented by the young people themselves with help from local filmmaker company Act 2 Cam.
It is also being followed by filmmaker Hugh Kelly and the footage will be placed in Woodhorn’s archive.
