Hundreds of people enjoyed stepping back in time and reminiscing about days gone by at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse yesterday. It was the first of the museum's Memorable Days Out, when people over 55 are invited to come and share their memories.

Hundreds of people enjoyed stepping back in time and reminiscing about days gone by at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse yesterday.

It was the first of the museum's Memorable Days Out, when people over 55 are invited to come and share their memories.

Visitors enjoyed dancing the Norfolk Long Dance to traditional music, taking in the sights and smells of 1950s cooking and creating collages of the past, among other activities, as well as exploring the farm and museum.

Project manager Colly Mudie said: "Reminiscing is what Gressenhall does best and yesterday was all about people talking about their memories and listening to other people's stories. It is the first time we have done anything like this and it is wonderful so many people came along."

Stork all-in-one cake and leftover vegetable pie were just some of the 1950s dishes being cooked on the museum's Victorian range as groups of people gathered in the kitchen to have a mardle about old times.

Retired office clerk Eileen Bisby, from Sprowston, who has two children and two grandchildren, remembered: "On Sunday mornings my mum would do her cooking for the week. She would cook Leavona cake and Ninhams cheesecake - not like the cheesecake people think of today, but a cheesecake which was like a jam tart with sponge on top."

Her husband, Michael, 65, a retired builder, added: "My grandma's cooked dinners were marvellous. She had this big cooking range in her little terraced house. She used to black-lead the kitchen-range and the doors were so polished you could see your face in them."

For retired painter and decorator Ronald Ireson, 72, from Easton, it was walking around the farm that brought back many childhood memories.

Mr Ireson, who has one son, said: "My father was a farmer in Costessey. I remember when I was about 12 going with him and chopping out the sugar beet and, when they were cutting the crops I used to try to catch the rabbits. That was the main source of meat in those days.

"I never caught a rabbit, though - they were too quick for me!"

Fifty-eight-year-old grandfather Peter Cason, from Dereham, enjoyed the day so much he now wants to get involved with the farming side of the museum.

He said: "It has been brilliant. There has been so much to see and remember.

"The schoolroom with the old desks and inkwells could have been my old primary school in South Raynham. The frightening thing is that being at school does not seem like that many years ago!"

Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse is hosting two more Memorable Days Out for the over-55s. They are on Friday, July 13, and Friday, September 14. Tickets cost £4. For more information, call 01362 869251 or visit the website www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk.