Blists Hill Victorian Town: Part 1

Today we traveled to the Iron Bridge Gorge to visit the Blists Hill Victorian Town.  This is about 17 minutes from our Admaston home and located 3 miles from the world's first Iron Bridge.  The town is designed to take you back in time nearly 100 years to a Victorian English town.  Everything in the town is designed as if you were stepping back in time.  All of the staff dress and speak as if they are from that era.  Here's what Wikipedia tells you about the region.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Blists Hill was an industrial region consisting of a brick and tile works, blast furnaces and coal, iron and fire clay mines operated by the Madeley Wood Company. A short section of the Shropshire Canal ran across the site to the Hay Inclined Plane, which transported boats up and down the 207 ft (63 m) tall incline from Blists Hill to Coalport.

This weekend happened to be one of two weekends that they are celebrating a Victorian Christmas.  The town was decorated in traditional Christmas décor.  When we walked in we got to see two traditional English dances that would have occurred during this era in history. 

One of the first buildings we reached was a bank where you could exchange your money for English money that is no longer in circulation such as half-pennies and shillings.  Think Charles Dickens. 

We made it just in time to attend school in a Victorian town.  We had to line up outside the school building. The school "marms" rang the school bell and we all filed into wooden desks set up much like church pews.  Sierra was so disappointed to have to go to school on Sunday.

The lesson included all of the following:

1. Hand check to check for dirty fingers.  (Anyone wearing nail polish was scolded and told that only "women of the night" where nail polish).

2. There was a character lesson about how we should be grateful to all the benefactors in town.

3.  We had to recite our 12 times tables orally as a group while the school marm tapped her cane on the board.

4.  We completed an arithmetic lesson using the 12 days of Christmas.  For instance, she asked, "How many birds are in the song?"  Sierra was called on for one of the answers and had to reply "8 marm". Sierra and recorded our answers together and only got 1 wrong.

5.  Handwriting Lesson:  We had to copy three lines of the song on our paper.  There was some crazy cursive going on.  I did not do well.  Sierra did amazing for a 4 year old.

6.  Lastly, we sang the 12 days of Christmas in preparation for our "school performance" next week.

We were all ready for some fun after that strict school lesson.  They had an old time "fayre" where the kids could ride a donkey.  Sierra and Desmond loved!  Sierra rode a very sweet donkey named Snowy, and Desmond got to ride on Eeyore. 

They also had "fayre" booths.  Sierra and Desmond played a game where you had to roll a ball down a slope into a numbered slot.  Think Plinko without the pegs.  Their goal was to reach 23.  Sierra succeeded (with a little help from the attendant) and won a giant candy kabob! She was obviously proud of her accomplishment!