Bed bugs and ballyhoo!

Hands that do dishes can feel soft as your face with mild, green Fairy Liquid but how did folk keep themselves clean in the olden days?

Find out at the National Botanic Garden of Wales this half-term and learn how to make a dandelion footwash, a Tudor toothbrush and how the former owner of the Middleton Estate – where the Garden now sits – kept those pesky bed bugs at bay.

These are just some of the fun family activities on offer at the National Botanic Garden during the school break (May 27-June 4).

There are slightly more modern fun and games to enjoy, too, with water zorbing, a brand new play park, hay bale maze and giant garden games plus falconry, archery, tree climbing and a dolls’ house exhibition but the central focus will be on how people through the ages managed to maintain personal hygiene levels – with enormous help from wild Welsh plants – from the medieval Physicians of Myddfai, through Tudor times and in the Regency period.

Family activities are running on every day of the half-term from 12 noon to 4pm.

Admission to the Garden is £10.50 (including Gift Aid). For more information about this or other events, call 01558 667149, email info@gardenofwales.org.uk or visit https://botanicgarden.wales