Pan for Tin, Explore a Mine and Become a Stonemason: Family Fun at the Guildhall!

What did children do before iPads and Disney+?

This Saturday, we’re offering something rather different: the chance to get your hands dirty with 1,000 years of Tavistock history!

As part of Tavistock Heritage Open Days 2026, our brilliant Discovery Team will be taking over the historic Guildhall Courtroom on Saturday 19 September, with a morning of FREE hands-on activities especially designed for primary-aged children and their families.

And the good news is that we've made it even easier to join in.

Just drop in between 10am and 1pm

There are no fixed session times. Simply come along to the Guildhall Courtroom anytime between 10am and 1pm, stay for as long as you like and see what you can discover.

This isn't history where children are expected to stand quietly and look at things behind glass.

This is history they can actually do.

⛏️ Can You Find Tavistock's Tin?

Mining transformed Tavistock and the surrounding area, bringing thousands of people to work in the mines and associated industries.

Our younger visitors can have a go at panning for "tin", discovering how valuable minerals were separated from the surrounding material.

Then they'll be able to venture into our mining tunnel, searching for clues to the working lives of the men and boys who once went underground in search of Devon's mineral wealth.

🔨 Become an Apprentice Stonemason

Tavistock's history is written in stone, from the medieval Abbey to the buildings that still surround us today.

Now children can discover what it takes to become a stonemason themselves.

Using safe tools and soap as their "stone", they'll be able to carve their own design and experience some of the skills involved in turning a simple block into something rather more interesting.

And, unlike the medieval masons, they can take their masterpiece home!

🏪 Create a Tudor Shop

What would you have bought in Tavistock hundreds of years ago?

C

hildren can become Tudor traders and use their imagination to design their own historic shop or market stall, discovering along the way what people might have made, bought and sold in the town.

It is a chance to explore a very different Tavistock, when markets, craftspeople and traders were part of the everyday bustle of town life.

History You Can Touch

This year's national Heritage Open Days theme is Everyday Histories, and these activities are a perfect way for younger visitors to discover what that means.

History isn't only kings, queens, battles and important dates.

It is also the story of the miners, masons, craftspeople, traders and families who lived and worked here before us.

And sometimes the best way to understand their world isn't to read about it.

It's to have a go yourself.

Family Fun Day: Discovery Team Drop-In

📅 Saturday 19 September

⏰ Drop in anytime between 10am and 1pm

📍 The Courtroom, Tavistock Guildhall

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Designed for primary-aged children and their families

🎟️ FREE

There's no need to spend the whole morning with us. Drop in for an activity or stay and try them all.

So bring the children into Tavistock this Saturday and let them pan, dig, carve and create their way through Tavistock's past.

Who said history had to stay in a history book?