How to grow broad beans

Hello! We hope your students or children enjoyed their day with us at Vaucluse House being a ‘History Detective’ and uncovering clues about the lives of children in the past.

Our museums and historic houses are FREE to visit, so why not bring your budding History Detective back on the weekend, let them give you a tour of Vaucluse House, and find out what they learned from their excursion? You can find opening hours here.

We had a busy day! The students helped the Wentworth family’s servants to do some laundry the old-fashioned way (using their muscles), got to work in the kitchen polishing the silver, sweeping the floor, grinding spices and sorting beans, and then planted broad bean seeds in the potting shed.

It wasn’t all work and no play, though. They also took a tour of Vaucluse House and its grounds, and enjoyed playing with some old-time toys such as cups and balls, wooden skittles and skipping ropes. Ask them which ones they liked best!

Click here to find out some more surprising and fun facts about toys and games in the past.

Looking after your broad bean seed and plant

Below are some handy hints to help you look after your broad bean seed. We’d love to see photos of the plants you grow! You can send these to learning.team@mhnsw.au.

How to grow a broad bean plant from seed [PDF]

Yummy recipes for broad beans

(MHNSW cannot be held responsible for the content of external websites)

Vaucluse House kitchen garden

You can watch a video about the Vaucluse House kitchen garden rejuvenation project below. More information about the garden can be found here: Vaucluse House kitchen garden.

Keep an eye on our What’s on page for our ‘History Kids’ school holiday programs and other events running at our heritage sites.

And if you want to discover more resources to use with your students or children, or find out more about our onsite and virtual excursions, please visit Learning.