Victorian Christmas

Yesteday we had a most enjoyable day at Portsmouth's Victorian Christmas Market. Apart from the stalls, there were a number of entertainment events to get you in the mood. The first thing that we saw just after arriving through the gates was a demonstration of the Fort Cumberland Guard firing their muskets.

Shortly beyond that there was a kiosk selling warmed mince pie with mulled wine. For an extra 50 pence you could have the wine served in a souvenir mug which you could then take home. It seemed like a very appropriate way to start our Victorian experience!

Walking along it appeared to have started to snow until a few yards further we realised that it was a snow machine creating false snow in order to give an authentic Dickensian Christmas feel to the occasion. Throughout the market there were scenes of typical Victorian/Dickensian life.

There was also an exhibition of various old cycles - 2, 3 and 4 wheeled vehicles.



The original 'quadbike'?

As the market was held in the Historic Dockyard, there was opportunity to visit exhibits from earlier times in British maritime history - the Mary Rose museum.  The Mary Rose was a warship of the Tudor navy of Henry VIII. In 1545 it led the attack on a French invasion but sank in the Solent. It was raised from the sea bed in 1982. Also in the dockyard is HMS Victory, Admiral Lord Nelson's flagship that was used to defeat the French in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. I sense there was a bit of 'tongue in cheek' by the organisers of the Victorian Market as they put the French stalls right next to HMS Victory. Hmm!

We left the house just before 7.30 in the morning and arrived back about 7.45 in the evening, tired but happy to have experienced such an enjoyable day.