A great day was had by all, yesterday, as visitors flocked here in Victorian costume for our Victorian Variety day.
An amazing number of people dressed up for the occasion, and dressed as a Victorian maid opening the door, it was a joy to let them in! All those who came in costume were well rewarded with a free piece of cake.
There were plenty of activities to enjoy, including making flower posies and block printing lavender bags.
We had live music hall songs –
-and Victorian books and herbarium specimens in the library:
A ‘Famous Victorians’ quiz had people dotted around the building – is that Beatrix Potter painting in the conservatory? Oh yes, there she is again, talking to Charles Darwin:
No event would be complete without our usual array of cakes, but this time we added some lovely home-made Victorian pies:
At the end of the event it was only right to gather everyone outside our Victorian institute for a photo:
Our Victorian Variety day marked the end of our 2-year project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund: ‘Living history – sharing our botanical historical heritage.’ We are extremely grateful to them for their support, which has made so many activities possible over the last 2 years – we feel this event was a fitting end! Though of course we hope that many of our successful events will continue…keep an eye on our Events page.