We go to quite a few shows, displaying our caravan Daisy - Click here to read all about our 1969 Bluebird Caravan Daisy. This one was pretty special though. Festival of the Forties, commemorating the 70 years anniversary. We where part of the show, displaying caravans from 1934 right through to the 80's. Its amazing to see how much they had changed. My husband fell a little in love with the caravan from 1934, very different to ours!
We convoyed down with our good friends, through such bad traffic.
The display was perfect, lots of room for people to walk through and look at each caravan. I love being part of a display, mostly just for being so proud of how far Daisy has come but also having a nose round all the amazing retro caravans!
Daisy is really starting to come together, thanks to my long line of family hoarding ways! Here I am with my Nana's table cloth matching her perfectly, a hand-me-down flag pole from my amazing Uncle and a 1960's dress given to me by a friend (teamed with my Nana's shoes, very lucky she was also a size 4!) For the first day, I matched our caravan and dressed in 1960's, with matching coat and big red earrings! (I found the prefect hat there too, as that's one thing I don't have!)
My friends commented I looked like I had walked off the Heartbeat set! I will take that! Having the right items to finish a look, makes all the difference (keep an eye out for the blog am writing about my vintage wardrobe!
Am on a tight budget with Daisy. So if I buy her something, it has to be something I will be using anyway, not just a prop! Check out my blog all about what my top items are for your vintage/retro caravan, click here to view it. Her big blue picnic box was a huge tick off my dream list for Daisy, I have wanted one for years anyway and they are so handy for trips out! Click here to read all about our amazing 50/60's picnic set. Most of the things we use in her are hand me downs, family items and things which I used anyway in the house. I find things where made to last and mostly by hand. Due to this, a lot of the things in our house are slowly being replaced with things made 50 years before them and still going strong!!
Its lots of fun setting up for a display, its not easy around the mini people to keep it looking smart but we tried our best! Everything is used though, so here is the bright orange amazing suit case which all our clothes for the weekend was in. my old hand box I found in a boot fair when I was about 15, still being used to hold all my makeup and hair bits! The picnic box is looking much better with Daisy's china in it, yes we use china in the caravan. In fact the gift of a 1960's coffee set from my Great Uncle has grown......and grown....
Its made my J&G Meakin and I love it!! So much so I have one set for Daisy, 'Poppy' and now replaced all the old (I say old, only about 2 years old) china in the house. So much of it had chipped and broken - They do not make things the way they used too! Now our daily china at home was made in 1960!!
Here is Daisy's beauitful china, 'Poppy.' Love it so much and yes, I make proper Italian coffee and use the coffee pot! Not a lot beats a proper coffee in the morning when camping!
Check out my amazing find!! The 1970's cooler, the colours are epic and yes we use it when ever we are away in Daisy. It works amazing still and keeps everything cold.
It was also our youngest mini's birthday this weekend, so we had to take cakes and lots of cupcakes with us!
It was yummy and vegan - click here for my cheat vegan cake.
Am really lucky that a lovely friend sent me out one of these catalogs along with adverts from when Daisy was made! The other one I found on ebay, you ever know what you may find still knocking about and its fab looking at the write up and photos from when she was new! (Check out my amazing jug, its become a juice jug!)
Shows are hard work with mini people, they are very, very busy mini people. When its a good show with lots for them to do away from the caravan, that really helps. But it is a shame not to be about to talk to people about Daisy, how far she has come and that she is loved and used by our family. Its hard to keep her looking 'show ready' and like they say 'every day is a show day' when you have a vintage van, but just like all well loved vans she gets covered in mud, lego and a few split beans.....kids.....
Having said that, our oldest loves to show people around the van and while I was busy he took over the rains from my husband and explained how all the beds work!
Having said that, our oldest loves to show people around the van and while I was busy he took over the rains from my husband and explained how all the beds work!
Day two and I went full 1940's!
With my beauitful 1940's dress, my coat I wear anyway, bright red lippy and (not in this photo but matching red earrings.) My lovely friend put my hair up for me too! Can you spot our new pram!? I say new, its a 1940's amazing dream pram, I have always wanted one!
Dot loves her pram, we don't get anywhere fast as people want to stop and talk to use about it. So lucky my friend had one, which was just about in my budget and my amazing hubby brought me it as an early birthday gift!
Being huge, it gives us a great little base when off out for the day. Not only can Dot rest but the boys love to push it (trying to get in too) and can carry all our extra bits and bobs. Am on the hunt for a try which fixes to the bottom of it and a sun canopy and maybe a bag.....
It was great fun dressing the part, am almost there with the caravan and my self (|my wardrobe is 99% vintage anyway, keep an eye out for my blog all about it) just the boys and hubby to find bits for now!
It was a great show, from music, tea rooms, cars, caravans, stalls, and the best part was the living history.
It was like time travel, Germans, English and Americans. All with the period weapons, tents, tanks, cars and bikes. Walking through the camps was amazing, real living history. So friendly too, talking about what they where wearing, chatting and living it. We spoke to some lovely nurses who had come over to ask about Puddle Duck (the pram.) They had camped in the same tents the nurses used, wearing the same uniform. Some of the displays where amazing. One nurse on her brake kitting, another helping the doctor, who was covered in fake blood attending a patient.
There where moments, when walking around them felt truly real, here was the correct real uniforms, the real tents....Yes a few things are remade, or fake, but it was like being immersed in the time period.
Some people had gone to amazing lengths to look perfect. This guy was one of my favorites.
Think its really important to go to these sort of events with our minis. Its one thing learning about WW2 in the classroom and a whole other ball game seeing something like this! Feeling the weight of the guns, seeing the uniforms, the raw of the bombers over head and the scream of the air rade siren.
I could point to things and tell them stories about there family, your Great Great Auntie drove one of them!
They did an amazing job of recreating a little camp, and a battle. We did leave early as our minis found it quite scary, it made me feel very emotional.
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