The turkeyman at Rochester Dickensian Christmas Festival
Yes, it’s that time again, but if all the modern Christmas excesses are getting too much for you then why not go back in time for some traditional festivities? Every year towns across the UK don their best period dress and celebrate Christmas in Dickensian and Victorian style with a range of festive events for all the family. Why not join the chimney sweeps, little urchins and street entertainers for traditional markets, fairs and music?
Ulverston Dickensian Christmas Festival
When: 23rd & 24th November 2013
Where: Ulverston, Cumbria
£: Free
What is it?
Ulvertson’s 16th annual Dickensian Christmas Festival will feature children’s events, street organs, horse-drawn carriages, folk music, brass bands, dancing, a traditional fun fair and a Christmas market.
Saturday’s entertainment includes the Ulverston Town Band, Uncle Tim’s Flea Circus, the Grand Theatre of Lemmings, South Lakes Ukulele Band, a costume procession and the Christmas lights switch-on. Sunday’s entertainment includes the Furness Morris dancers, Barrow Junior Shipyard Band, Inner State Theatre Company and the grand costume procession.
More info: www.dickensianfestival.co.uk
Rochester Dickensian Christmas Festival
When: 6th – 8th December 2013
Where: Rochester, Kent
£: Free (tickets for the Mistletoe Ball cost £24.50)
What is it?
The festival kicks off with the Mistletoe Ball on Friday 6th December at Rochester Corn Exchange. The evening starts with a traditional style Christmas meal followed by plenty of dancing. The dress code is, of course, Victorian.
The main event takes place on 7th and 8th December with the High Street and surrounding area filled with all the excitement of a traditional Victorian Christmas. There will be carols beside the cathedral, brass bands, theatre performances, mince pie stalls and the traditional candlelit parade led by some of Charles Dickens best-loved characters from Scrooge and Fagin to Miss Haversham. Visitors will also be able to ‘meet’ the famous author as he carves the Christmas turkey near the Visitor Information Centre. Rochester Community Hub at Eastgate will also be hosting Punch and Judy shows at 11.20am on both days.
More info: issuu.com/medwaycouncil
Traditional festive displays at Grassington Dickens Festival
Grassington Dickensian Festival
When: 30th November, 7th December and 14th December 2013, 11am – 5pm
Where: Grassington, North Yorkshire
£: Free
What is it?
For three Saturdays in the run up to Christmas, Grassington will be going back in time for their annual festival. There will be a traditional market with villagers dressed in Victorian costume, musicians, dancers, street entertainers and exhibitions of traditional country crafts.
On all three Saturdays there will be the usual mix of entertainment on the bandstand including the Hebden Bridge, Barnoldswick and Nelson Brass Bands, the Penny Plain Theatre Company, Silsden Singers, Settle Voices, Baccapella and the Sneaky Experience Theatrical Company. Living Statues, circus entertainers, buskers, shoe shine boys and pick pockets all add to the unique atmosphere. Around the village there will be close-up magic shows, Punch & Judy and Victorian magic lantern shows.
More info: www.grassington.uk.com/dickensian-festival
Robin Hood’s Bay Victorian Weekend
When: 6th – 8th December 2013
Where: Robin Hood’s Bay, North Yorkshire
£: Many of the events are free although donations are welcome
What is it?
First held in 1994, the Robin Hood’s Bay Victorian Weekend has grown year after year. The local residents don Victorian costumes and the village is decorated for Christmas. This year’s entertainment includes wellie throwing on the beach, Victorian games, talks about the Dickensian era and Smuggling in Victorian times, Carollers, hand-bell ringers, magic lantern shows and an auction of curios.
Join Professor Fiddlesticks – the Circus Master, Dr Busker, Peter Taunton the town crier, and children’s favourite, Santa, for a weekend of festivities.
More info: www.robin-hoods-bay.co.uk
Victorian Festival of Christmas at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard (Photo: Portsmouth Historic Dockyard)
Victorian Festival of Christmas
When: 29th November – 1st December 2013, 10am – 6pm
Where: Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, Hampshire
£: Adults £15, children £13, seniors and students £14 and family tickets £45 per day
What is it?
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard welcomes the return of the Victorian Festival of Christmas. This year, the family-favourite event takes inspiration from the stories of much-loved Victorian detective Sherlock Holmes and features a special exhibition and footage from The Arthur Conan Doyle Collection – as bequeathed to Portsmouth City Council.
Now in its fourteenth year, the Victorian Festival of Christmas is set in the unique surroundings of Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. An event ticket includes entry to the Mary Rose Museum, The National Museum of the Royal Navy, HMS Warrior 1860, HMS Victory, Action Stations and boat trips of Portsmouth Harbour (weather permitting).
Visitors will be magically transported into a bygone era of Dickensian-style snowy streets, Cheapside and Baker Street, with seasonal carols, traditional Victorian Father Christmas, the ever raucous Fagin’s Tavern, local produce and a Christmas gift market.
The grand buildings of the historic site will be transformed into a glorious bazaar of arts, crafts, food and drink with hundreds of stalls. It promises to bring a terrific atmosphere amidst a good old-fashioned Victorian knees up.
More info: www.christmasfestival.co.uk
Otley Victorian Fayre
When: 8th December 2013, 12 noon – 6pm
Where: Otley, West Yorkshire
£: Free
What is it?
Otley Victorian Fayre will have a host of street entertainment including stilt walkers, mummers, morris dance troupes, fire artists, school singers, dancers, bell ringers and brass bands. There will be plenty of food and drink on offer including award-winning butchers selling pork pies and home-made burgers, fish shops offering traditional Yorkshire fish and chips and public houses with staff dressed in Victorian clothes offering great Yorkshire ales. Traditional music organs, donkey rides and Santa’s reindeer will add to the entertainment.
On the pedestrianised streets will be a wide variety of stalls offering gifts, food and the chance to help local charities and good causes. The indoor areas in The Black Horse Stable Yard and The Old Grammar School will be selling hand-crafted items.
More info: www.victorianfayre.co.uk
North Shields Victorian Christmas Market
When: 14th & 15th December 2013
Where: Northumberland Square, North Shields
£: Free
What is it?
The market set in North Shields’ famous Victorian Northumberland Square will be offering local food, gifts and crafts. There will be over 100 stalls to browse and stallholders will be donning Victorian costume to get into the spirit of the event. Over the two days there will be performances and entertainment taking place around the square.
More info: www.victorianmarket.co.uk
Brighouse Victorian Christmas (Photo: Steven Lord)
Brighouse Victorian Christmas Festival
When: 30th November and 1st, 7th, 14th, 21st, 22nd December 2013
Where: Brighouse, West Yorkshire
£: Free
What is it?
Brighouse Victorian Christmas Festival will feature a local food and craft market, re-enactors in Victorian costume and shops decorated in Victorian style with shop assistants in costume. Highlights will be a lantern parade on the Saturday led by Father Christmas in a horse-drawn carriage and a visit by Queen Victoria.
See a Victorian glass carriage pulled by two white shire horses, street entertainers including fire eaters, jugglers, magicians, Punch and Judy, school choirs and bands, Carol services and fairground rides. There will also be a fairground organ, a roast chestnut seller, mulled wine, hot street food, Santa’s Grotto, a silhouette artist, the town crier and a Victorian history talk by Chris Helme to enjoy.
More info: victorianchristmasfestival.co.uk
Garstang Victorian Christmas Festival
When: 9th & 10th December 2013, 6pm – 9pm
Where: Garstang, Lancashire
£: Free
What is it?
The Garstang Victorian Christmas Festival began in the 1980s with a wheelbarrow full of baked spuds being sold around the town whilst the shops stayed open late to catch any last minute Christmas shoppers. Today the wheelbarrow full of spuds has been replaced by stalls and carts supplying everything from German sausages to roasted chestnuts.
Although it is still a traditional Christmas festival with a Victorian theme, more modern entertainment is also on offer. Traditional entertainment such as Punch and Judy shows, morris dancers, and brass bands take place alongside the more modern entertainment of stilt walkers and drumming bands.
The highlight of the evening will be the arrival of Santa Claus, led by a band and paraded down the High Street to his grotto.
Many of the small, independent shops in Garstang stay open throughout the evenings for Christmas shopping, some of which welcome visitors with a glass of wine and a mince pie!
More info: garstangchristmas.co.uk
The reindeer await at Blists Hill Victorian Town in Shropshire
Festive Weekends at Blists Hill Victorian Town
When: 7th – 8th and 14th – 15th December 2013, 10am – 4pm
Where: Blists Hill Victorian Town, Ironbridge, Shropshire
£: Adults £15.95, seniors £12.50, children £10.50 and under 5s go free; a family ticket (two adults and two children) costs £46.50 and is available for the festive weekends only.
What is it?
Go along and meet Father Christmas and his reindeer, listen to a brass band and carol singers, watch a cookery demonstration, see a mini-pantomime and Punch and Judy Show. Talk to the costumed townsfolk in their shops, cottages and places of work, which will be decorated for the festive season, and discover how Christmas was celebrated in Victorian times.
Youngsters can visit Father Christmas in his grotto and receive a traditional gift (there is a small additional charge of £3.50 per child). Afterwards children can see his reindeer before they start their mammoth journey around the world on Christmas Eve.
The town will be festooned with traditional Christmas decorations as the townsfolk prepare for the festive season. The Victorian shops will be selling unusual Christmas gifts such as traditionally made cast-iron paperweights and doorstops, perfumed soaps, sweet treats and plaster decorations, many of which are hand-made in the Gorge.
More info: www.ironbridge.org.uk
Victorian Christmas Market at Kelham Island Museum
When: 30th November 2013, 10am – 7pm and 1st December 2013, 10am – 5pm
Where: Kelham Island Museum, Alma Street, Sheffield S3 8RY
£: Adults £6 and children go free
What is it?
Gather under the gas lamps with the heart-warming Dickensian folk who will be bringing alive the magical world of Dickens at Christmas. There will be over 120 market stalls set within the museum quarters, including stalls from Sheffield, Made, All that Glitters Gifts, Christmas Shop and Emporium. There will be festive family entertainment, food, fairground rides and Santa’s Grotto complete with reindeer.
More info: www.simt.co.uk/whatson/kelham-island-museum-victorian-christmas-market-2013
So there you have it, time to don a bonnet or top hat and enjoy some festive merriment (with a mince pie or three, obviously).