Illustration showing Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at Osborne

The Kids Rule! Guide to The Victorians

Welcome to the Kids Rule! guide to the Victorians, where you can learn about England’s history, discover more about our sites and find loads of fun things to watch, read and do! Here's what we've got in store for you:

Mrs Crocombe with young English Heritage Members in Victorian period costume

INTERVIEW WITH MRS CROCOMBE

We sent young English Heritage Members Ollie and Jack to Audley End House and Gardens to meet Mrs Avis Crocombe, who was the cook at the house in the 1880s.

Find out about life in the kitchen at Audley End, how many people Mrs Crocombe had to help her prepare the meals, and just how the food made it from the kitchen to the dining room. She also shares the secrets to preparing a delicious custard pudding!

Watch the video

Young children reading a copy of The Kids Rule! Guide to Victorian England

THE KIDS RULE! GUIDE TO THE VICTORIANS

Read Kids Rule! magazine online to learn about the Victorians, including the story of Queen Victoria’s holiday home on the Isle of Wight, the experiments famous biologist Charles Darwin did in his garden and what would have been included in a Victorian feast. Plus, we’ve also got a quiz to help you discover if you could have made it as an apprentice gardener.

This is the tenth in our series of Kids Rule! magazines following the history of England. Each issue is designed to help you discover more about our properties through fun facts, illustrated stories and games.

Read The Magazine

Young children dressed up at Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

QUEEN VICTORIA AND PRINCE ALBERT DRESS-UP KIT

If you’ve always wanted to be royalty, now’s your chance! We’ve created a Queen Victoria mask and sceptre, plus a Prince Albert mask and moustache for you to download and make.

Follow the instructions to create your props and then strike a right royal pose!

Download your kit

BAKE YOUR OWN DELICIOUS QUEEN DROP BISCUITS

Have a go at making queen drop biscuits, the instructions for which are taken from a handwritten recipe in Mrs Crocombe’s very own book.

Download our recipe, and ask an adult to help you follow the instructions to make the biscuits, which are full of currants and flavoured with almond. Delicious!

Download the recipe

Illustration showing an industrial Victorian town scene

VICTORIAN TOWN POSTER: MAKE YOUR MEGA TIMELINE

We've created a series of posters showing how people lived in England through the ages, like this one showing life in Victorian England.

Each of the posters follows on from each other, so that when you download them all from the Kids Rule! pages, you can create your own mega timeline of English history!

Download your poster