We visited the Grassington Dickensian Festival again in 2013. We went in 2011 and thought it was one of the best Christmas festivals in Yorkshire. This time we went a little later in the day and experienced some new parts of the festival.
Grassington Dickensian Festival 2013
On our first arrival, we saw a group of Morris Dancers from Leeds. Their performance was very entertaining.
Morris Dancers in action
Morris Dancers ready for another go
After watching the dancers, we ducked into one of the church cafes for some hot chocolate and mince pies. We used the loo and then headed up the street to see more wonders of the festival.
More of the streets
Meat pie stall
We saw one of our favorites from the last visit--Hardcastle's Amazing Human Vegetable Machine. It's a sort of slot machine where patrons put in £1 in the hopes of winning £5. Three people in the machine start laughing (though it is more like cackling if you ask me) and eventually produce a random piece of veg. If all three pieces match, the patron wins! We didn't see anyone win. Not that I am saying it's rigged, but as soon as a contrary piece of veg showed up, the human who showed it said, "bah humbug!"
Human Vegetable Machine
Here's the machine in action!
Further up the street we saw a fun hat shop where L fell in love with a frog hat. We bought it for her, so you may see it in future blog posts.
L's new hat
At the top of the hill we discovered the trail to Santa's Grotto. We followed the signs carefully until we arrived at the right building.
Part of the signs
A well-disguised grotto
Inside, we had to wait in a short line before seeing Santa. L wanted to touch everything. Somehow we kept her from cutting in line to touch the white tree in the front. Eventually she was satisfied.
L's fondest wish
We were ushered into Santa's little room where he asked the kids some questions. L was too shy to answer but J filled the gaps. When Santa asked J what he wanted for Christmas, J said, "A hexbug," which is a robotic insect. Santa said, "You want a Xbox? I may have to get my American elves to work on that!" J didn't correct Santa (such a polite boy!) so hopefully we don't get the wrong item down the chimney!
J grilled by Santa
L not too shy for a picture
We saw more booths when we walked down a different street. One stall had candle dipping. Customers could change regular white tapered candles into colorful creations. L really wanted to do it and J joined in.
Customers with their plain white candles
L has her go
J has his go
We are using the candles at dinner time which is very pleasant. Further down the street we stopped in at the Grassington Folk Museum, which has a variety of exhibits on local farming life, World War II, and other sundries.
An 1800s doll house
Vintage games
1920s items
We walked out of the museum and saw the evening torch-lit procession. Various torch bearers guide Joseph and Mary (on a donkey) up the hill to the church where carols are sung. J and L both wanted torches but we said that was for grown-ups.
Lucky fire-bearers
We headed down the hill rather than up, so we could catch the bus back to our car. It was a fun visit and definitely one of the things to do if you're in Yorkshire during the Christmas season.
One Saturday in December we went to Lightwater Valley for their Dickensian Christmas weekend. Normally, Lightwater Valley is an amusement park (only open in the fairer months) and a shopping village (which stays open year round). The shops had stalls in front of them selling the typical Yule Tide wares. We had a fun visit to the stalls and the outdoors activities.
They also have mini-golf!
The first thing we saw after parking was a calliope that was re-themed for the holidays.
Throw Santa in the corner and put a Christmas tune on, you're all set!
Further on we saw reindeer. They had arrived ahead of Santa and were busily munching away on the nice golf course grass.
Hungry reindeer
J is hungry too!
I had no idea their hooves looked like this!
We went inside to look at the sales and such.
Entrance to the covered shopping
Dickensian sales folk
In addition to the various merchants, quite a few tombolas were spread throughout. The tombola is a sort of raffle where you pay money to draw a ticket from a hamper. If the number matches one of the items on display, you win that item. Typically, numbers ending in 0 or 5 are winners, though here we played one that only had 0s. That's when we drew 185 and were excited for less than a minute. L later played a tombola where children get a prize just for playing. J played a tombola that had concession prizes for the other numbers. Having drawn 228, he could draw a present from the 8 bin. So we won two out of three tombolas, which is a pretty good record.
L wins a gift bag!
L, J, and the bins of prizes
Further on was a craft activity where the children pealed off stickers one by one and put colored sand on the exposed sticky part. With a little patience and careful choices, we wound up with a very colorful alphabet!
L surveys her (and J's) handiwork
We went back outside for the arrival of Santa. He came on the little train that was running that day. He had a sackful of gold coin that he gave out to the children. L was more excited to find out the coins were actually gold foil-wrapped chocolates! She says they were tasty but wouldn't let me confirm it.
Santa waves to the crowd
The outdoors also has a birds of prey exhibit. Customers could pay to have an owl perch on them and get a photo. We did not spring for it since the children were not interested.
It would have been cool, though
A more interesting activity was pony riding. We asked the kids if they wanted a ride, assuming L would say "yes" and Ja would say "no." Surprisingly, the responses were reversed. J had his first pony ride on Pippin the pony.
J goes for his first horse ride
J has never ridden any animal before but he had a good time. I walked along with him and he chatted nicely with the lady leading Pippin. Turns out she is named after some children's story Pippin and not the Hobbit from Lord of the Rings. L and Mommy trailed after us. J was immensely happy.
After a fun ride, L shows signs of regret
We found some lunch and then headed out to leave. Just before we left, we saw a group of dancers performing a sword dance. L and Mommy were too cold and not fascinated enough to keep watching, so they went into a nearby shoppe to warm up. J and I were mesmerized and watched the whole rest of the performance.
Players and dancers
Sword play
We had a very fun visit to Lightwater Valley and will probably come back to try out the amusement park if the kids seem up for it. That won't be till next summer at the earliest.
Easily the best Christmas fair we went to this year was the Grassington Dickensian Festival. At first, it seemed like it might not be so great. Expectations were lowered on our trip there.
The first problem was following the signs to the parking. They led us right through town and far out of town. We wound up at Swinden Quarry that seemed three or four miles from our destination. Parking was £6 per car, which included the free bus ride back and forth. If we had our druthers, we'd have parked in town and walked to the festival, just so we could leave when we wanted to. The second problem was cold, overcast weather that looked like rain would happen any minute. Shivering in the cold might be Dickensian but that wasn't the experience we were looking for.
The bus ride went quickly and the children were excited to be on mass transit. Not too many people were riding so we all had seats. The drop off was two blocks from the festival street. When we walked up, we discovered a very wonderful, festive display.
Not only were people in festive dress; also there were plenty of little braziers full of coal to keep warm.
A motley crew!
Street urchins on the early, uncrowded streets
Coal fires provides heat and plenty of smoke/atmosphere
We ducked into the local Church of England that was serving traditional snacks, which provided another opportunity to warm up and to enjoy a mince pie and tea.
Cookies and tea at a reasonable price!
Lucy tries to get the waitress's attention
We went back outside in time to see the opening parade led by the Barnoldswick Band.
We followed the band up the street a short way and discovered the Human Vegetable Machine. This old time entertainment cost only one pound for the chance to win five pounds. The game worked like a gigantic slot machine. Three ladies would start laughing and then shout "bah humbug!" and bring out a vegetable from under their stall. If all the vegetables match, you win! We never saw anyone win, except that the whole crowd was highly entertained.
Put a pound in the bucket and get a chance for five!
These women were highly animated when the bell rang. We all laughed along.
We saw lots of buskers on the street, playing instruments (one boy had spoons!) or singing songs. Tunes from Oliver! were popular along with lots of classical Christmas carols. Lucy was glad to give a little something to them.
Was Lucy putting money in or taking it out?
Lots of amazing shops lined the streets selling all sorts of wares, drinks, and foods. Christmas shopping could be a breeze here with the variety of shops, as long as you weren't shopping for someone you were with. Some things were less Dickensian than others.
Classic fare at the fayre!
Not so classic crepes; at least the guy had the right outfit on!
The streets filled up quickly and the local constables went to great heights to keep the order in town.
The crowds got bigger and bigger, not because of eating too many chestnuts and crepes.
At least we didn't have to worry about the long arm of the law!
Another common booth at the fair was a charity booth running a raffle which they called a tombola. Typically you would pay 50 pence or a pound to get one to three tickets. If you drew a number that ended in 5 or 0, you'd win a prize from the display. Sometimes the individual numbers (like 135 of 240) were linked to specific prizes. Other times the winner chose among what was available. Many booths had little candies for people who didn't win anything. We played at three or four of these booths without winning. Then we went back to the church where we had a snack and tried one last time. This time, both Jacob and Lucy won prizes!
The tin was full of chocolate!
We missed some of the other attractions. We didn't bring a letter for Santa's Post Box or stop in at Santa's Grotto. At the end of the day, Joseph leads Mary on a donkey from inn to inn along the streets looking for a place to stay, winding up at the nativity scene. This festival was so much fun, we are almost sure to go again in 2012. As it was, we headed for home after we became big winners. The bus ride was pleasantly swift and we finally rode up top on a double-decker bus. A good time was had by all.
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