Wimpole at War

Recently I went to the National Trust's Wimpole Hall for their 6th wartime event. The house and grounds was transported back to the 1940s and brought to life by reenactors and authentic period touches. 

This dashing pair cycled all their way from Cambridge with all their camping gear on the back of their vintage tandem. Isn't that bicycle just great! If like me, you fancy riding a ride on a vintage bike then you are in luck - they are setting up their hire business Tommy Vintage Cycles so you too can have a chance to cycle in vintage style. 

There were also plenty of uniformed reenactors. Here's the Suffolk Home Guard's outpost.

Lots of people went to great efforts to make their encampments authentic. This man's array of 1940s goodies, was even all edible. I was pleased to see the bottle of Camp coffee as it brings back childhood memories of baking with it. You can tell this one is a original bottle from the label, which was revised to become more PC! You can read more about the design over on the BBC's History of the World. 

It was a joy to see the fabulous members of Cambs and Beds Lindy Experience again and to see if we could remember the steps of the Palais Stroll that we learnt with them at Twinwood Festival. 

The Hall itself had also been taken back to what it might have been like in the 40s. An original newspaper with the latest stories on the war effort was laid out for reading over tea, and there was a basket of wool in the living room for the women to get on with some making do and mending, as well as authentic games for the children to play. 

I particularly liked below stairs, which gave a glimpse into the life of the servants. Best thing was I could pretend I was on the set of Downton Abbey :-)

So I had I thouroughly enjoyable day out at Wimpole at War and look forward to next time! 

Have you been to any reenactment events recently?