Today, I had the great pleasure in visiting Blists Hill Victorian Village for their Steam Days event.  From reading the site, I wasn’t too sure what to expect – and colleagues had told me to be prepared for dissapointment – but I was very pleasantly surprised.  The whole Victorian styled village contains sweetie shops, bakers, druggists, bank, pub, woodturner (and coffin maker), plaster worker, leather workers, seamstresses shop and more that I’ve already squeezed from my brain for lack of space!  One aspect to it that I absolutely adored was the use of ‘old money’ – if you went to the bank, the very dapper banker would exchange your modern money into Blists Hill specific old money – at a rate of 40 new pence to an old penny (or, 1d).  I felt quite odd wandering around with old pennies, thrupp’ny bits, farthings and hayp-nies in my bag.

Each of the shops had both traditional ‘for show’ items, and small collections of items for sale appropriate to the shop – royal mints, tea strainers, copper dippers, and much more.  All the prices were listed with both old and new money, and so it came to be that I spend a thuppence on two ounces of chocolate raisens and the same of lemon sherbet.  They were out of sugar mice.

The fact that it was their steam event, meant that there was live ironworking going on, a fairground (with coconut shy), more traction engines than I could shake a parasol at, and even the above little engine powering a flour grinding mill.  Oh – and everyone was wearing bowler hats!  I felt quite underdressed.  All the staff were appropriately turned out, from the sternly dressed banker (though a nice man really) to the rough and tumble looking iron workers, to the decidedly frilly seamstress.  There were even random couples wandering around in period clothing, and that, coupled with my hand full of farthings, and I was a very happy Steampunk fan indeed.  I would heartily recommend (and the steam day is on tomorrow as well, if you’re in the area).