101 Things to Discover at Flambards Victorian Village

There’s so much to discover as you travel back in time and take a stroll through Flambards’ award-winning Victorian Village.

 

WELCOME TO 1899

1. Repairing and customizing old clothes with cotton from Mrs. Barwick’s Drapery and Haberdashery would have been much more affordable than new Victorian shop bought clothes.
2. Pawnbroker, Jacob Sproat, would accept almost anything of worth against the advance of a small amount of money. If the goods were not redeemed within a year, he would have the right to sell them on for profit.
3. Mr. Burns, like most fathers of the Victorian era, would’ve been the breadwinner - An Advocate, with law chambers directly below his home.

THE BURNS’ HOUSE

4. The Burns’ House depicts a typical Victorian middle-class home.
5. The first village scenes were created in 1979, but the upstairs of The Burns’ House didn’t open until 1990.
6. The Nanny is depicted attending to the youngest children in the Day Nursery.
7. Penny, the Maid can be seen readying the Bathroom for the weekly bath-night.
8. Victorians would test their housemaids by hiding a coin under the carpet – if the coin isn’t found then the maid hasn’t cleaned properly and is sacked. If the coin is found and the maid keeps it, she’d also be sacked.
9. In the Drawing Room, Mrs. Burns is being entertained by her daughters.
10. Grandma can be found bedridden in her Bedroom, riddled with Bronchitis.
11. After Nanny has bathed the baby, it’s the Nursemaid’s duty to settle him down for the night in the Nursery with a bottle of milk, then occupy the older children until their bedtime.
12. Penny, the Maid’s Bedroom is the last room in the house. Penny’s day begins at 6:00am and doesn’t end until 10:30pm. This is her routine for seven days a week excluding Sunday afternoon, which Mr. Burns kindly lets her have off.

THE PIPE YARD

13. The Pipe Yard was added to the village in 1989 – ten years after the first scenes were created.
14. Houghton Pipe Works would have produced clay pipes - since its wooden gates lead into this courtyard, this area has earned its name as ‘The Pipe Yard’.
15. Plaister’s Dairy Shop has an actual Dairy at the rear containing a circular granite fountain. This would have been fed by a nearby spring, providing a cool place to rest butter, milk, and cheese.
16. Over at the Wash House, the washerwoman uses a heavy mangle instead of hand wringing heavy wet sheets, and greatly reduces the drying time in the back garden.
17. Granny waits patiently in the Cottage Kitchen. At her feet lays a rag-rug – these were popular items in the Victorian era made from recycled clothes.
18. Clemence’s, like all Ironmongers, is full to the brim with brass, glass and tinned-ware, candlesticks, finger-plates, lamp wicks, gas mantles, furniture polish, clothes lines, black led brushes, and poultry requisites.
19. The Boot and Shoe Shop would remain open until 9 o’clock in the evening and re-open at 8 o’clock in the morning; a routine that was repeated daily apart from on Sunday and Christmas Day.

WILDER STREET

 

20. The local Victorian Blacksmith would’ve been able to hammer and beat metal into anything from a farmyard gate to horseshoe or agricultural implements.
21. A Blacksmith would often have an assistant in charge of the bellows; raising the temperature of the furnace so the blacksmith could warm the metal until it was red-hot and mouldable.
22. Madame De Rosay, Furrier and Plumassier has the most fashionable furs on display.
23. In 2000 the Furrier’s Shop arrived followed by a new entrance being built in 2001
24. One of the uniforms in the Uniform Shop is that of a ‘snotty’; the buttons around the cuffs acted as a deterrent to the wearer wiping his nose on the sleeves.
25. 1899 saw the start of The Second Boer War in South Africa. The British uniforms were red in order to hide the blood, but unfortunately it also made soldiers very easy targets.
26. The Tobacconist can be found, surrounded by stone jars of ‘snuff’, weighing out an ounce of ‘twist’, which like ‘plug’ was a tightly compacted tobacco that the customer would shave down to a fine tilth before smoking it.
27. The Brougham Carriage was the most favoured from of private transport, first made in 1838 by Robinson and Cook of Mount Street, London.
28. After leaving school, no girl would be without the ultimate Victorian fashion accessory, her corset from the Corsetiere.
29. The engine in the Flambards Village Station was made in London by Shand and Mason who produced the model in large numbers for home and exportation.

MILL STREET

30. The Mill Street Area was the first section of the village created.
31. The authentic street cobbles were sourced from Bath.
32. Birch, Birch & Co. Grocers was the first shop to be built in the Victorian Village.
33. The original Birch, Birch & Co. had been situated in Angel Court, London up until the 1970’s.
34. The shop front was discovered in a large farm building in the Cotswolds along with the door, display shelves, cannisters, scales and cheese cutters.
35. Some of the grocer containers still had oats, rice and coffee beans inside when they were rediscovered.
36. Victorian Grocers, would wait upon his customers twice daily; once to collect their order and again to deliver it.
37. The lamppost out Birch, Birch & Co. is from Somerset and the Flambards team almost turned it down fearing it would be too small.
38. E. Thomas and Son’s Barber Shop is instantly recognizable by the ‘Blood and Bandages’ red and white striped pole mounted on the exterior.
39. At Borthwick’s Butcher Shop, one of the most popular products sold would’ve been ‘four-pennyworth of butcher’s meat’; a deliberately vague description that can cover anything from scrag-end, untidy trimmings, joints or other cuts of beef, pork or mutton.
40. ‘Bags o’ Mystery’ was Victorian slang for sausages, because the exact contents of the sausage were usually unclear.
41. Outside Mrs Smythe’s Post Office is an iconic red Post Box. During the Victorian era, this would’ve been emptied four times a day, with deliveries three times a day, meaning most locally circulated mail was delivered within an hour or two of being posted!
42. The first stamp was created in the Victorian era, called the Penny Black.
43. ‘The Pheasant Inn’ gained its name from the door which was bought by the Flambards team at auction.
44. The glass on the exterior lamp of The Pheasant Inn was specially etched to match the door.
45. Victorian landlords were known to add salt to beer in order to keep their customers thirsty, forcing them to spend more.
46. The floors of Victorian pubs were usually coated with sawdust as a way of soaking up drink spillages… or more unpleasant accidents the customers may have!
47. In Victorian London, one in every 77 houses was a pub. In Newcastle there was one pub for every 22 families.
48. Photographs, such as the ones taken in the Photographer’s Shop were popularised during the Victorian era.
49. In Victorian Britain it was common for grieving families to pose for photographs with loved ones after they’d died!
50. Victorian toys, such as the ones on display in Mr Neville’s Toyshop, would very rarely be bought, unless as a birthday or Christmas present.
51. Dolls and cots were seen as unsuitable to be played with on Sundays during the Victorian Era, special toys like a wooden Noah’s Ark would be saved for the Sabbath Day.
52. The Bakery at Flambards contains over 200 cakes and buns which were preserved in epoxy resin to preserve them after they were baked.
53. A Victorian baker’s working day was a long one - it began at 4am, seven days a week.
54. Surprisingly, a baker’s most popular products would not usually be the fresh loaves but yesterday’s loaves (settled loaves).
55. Victorian criminals who stole from bakeries were known as ‘Pudding Snammers’

YORK STREET

56. Peer into St Mary’s Church School for an example of an old classroom complete with a Dunce in the corner.
57. The School in Flambards Village is a rarely intimate school - most Victorian classes would usually contain 70 to 80 pupils.
58. Victorian classroom punishments would include kneeling for prolonged periods of time, the strap, or the dreaded cane.
59. The girls were taught housewifery, sweeping, dusting, making beds, bathing a baby, needlework and cookery, while the boys were taught the trades.
60. One of our firm favourites whilst exploring the Victorian Village is of course ‘Miss Vaughton’s Sweet Shop’. Here you’ll smell real scents of delicious goodies
61. Miss Vaughton’s Sweet Shop would’ve made many products on site such as toffee, toffee apples, and boiled sweets.
62. The popular chocolate brand ‘Cadburys’ began during the Victorian era, however ‘Frys’ Chocolate was the more popular choice – proudly boasting that they were chocolate makers to the Queen herself!
63. Authentic antique China can be seen on display at Davis’s China Shop.

BRUNSWICK SQUARE

64. K Fillingham, Milliner, Costumier and Glover not only sells hats, hat pins, gloves, and accessories, but also makes them on the premises, upstairs in the workrooms.
65. Skilled milliners would create bespoke gowns, mantles and hats for clients, who would be able to try them on in the fitting rooms adjacent to the workrooms.
66. Most days would see the employees working from 7.30am to 8pm –often extended when there were urgent orders to be completed.
67. The device seen above the counter in the shop deals with cash payments - money would be placed inside the canister and sped along a wire to the proprietor’s office. The canister would then be swiftly returned containing a receipt.
68. After purchasing a bespoke gown from the Milliners, a Victorian lady would be sure to head to a jewellers, such as Mr Dotter’s Jewellery Shop, to find the perfect accessory.
69. Some pieces of jewellery weren’t just designed to look good – In the Victorian era, lockets would often contain photos or even the hair of loved ones.
70. There are many famous Victorian authors that are still remembered today – from Charles Dickens to Lewis Carroll. Mr Keast’s Bookshop not only stocks the bestsellers of the day, but also rarer books and maps.
71. When the owner of Lugg’s Hardware Store in Helston was forced to sell, the shopfront and contents were bought by the creator of Flambards Village because she used to buy her sweets there as a little girl.
72. Lugg’s Hardware Store prided itself on selling everything you could possibly need, and if they didn’t have a product in stock, they would try their best to source it for you.
73. Some customers would bring their own containers and use the brass taps in store to fill them with paraffin and oil as needed. Many goods bought would be put on ‘the slate’ until pay day.
74. In Victorian times, women were not allowed to drink in pubs, so many mothers and wives would have bought alcohol at hardware stores instead.
75. Mr Batten can be seen hard at work in his cosy Cobbler Shop.
76. Inside the village Apothecary, Mr Dyke can be found compounding his own pills and potions, and providing all the local pharmaceutical services. 
77. The large, extravagant carboys in the window would have been purely for decorative purposes and didn’t actually contain any medicinal substance.
78. In the Flambards Nursery, ‘Granny’ can be seen tending to the needs of the baby while the parents are busy working below in the Bakery.
79. It was not unusual during the Victorian era for children as young as 4 to be left at home to look after babies and toddlers while parents and older siblings were out to work.
80. The Victorian Dentist would be avoided at all costs, with many Victorians using Oil of Clove to relive toothache, but when the pain got too much sometimes a tooth extraction was needed.
81. Rather than visit the brutal dentist, many would place cotton around the tooth in order to remove to themselves.
82. Victorians would use substances such as salt and soot to clean their teeth.
83. The sound that you hear outside Flambards Printers is a recording of an actual printing machine in operation.
84. Printing really took off in the Victorian era due to the fact that many more people could read!

FLAMBARDS HOTEL

85. The Coach House would have served the public in general, but primarily patrons of the Flambards Hotel.
86. The elegant dark blue carriage is known as a ‘Victoria’ owing to the fact that her majesty, the Queen, gave it her whole-hearted approval in the 1860s.
87. To enter the Flambards Hotel, visitors must pass beneath an exuberant Georgian doorway.
88. Five shillings and sixpence would have bought you a room for the night and breakfast the next morning – a hot bath would cost an extra sixpence!
89. Most turn of the Century hotels would have employed chefs, but Flambards Hotel has a traditional cook, who not only copes with a full menu but also is in charge of the Kitchen staff.
90. The Hotel Kitchen was one of the original sets unveiled in Spring 1979, created to depict scenes from the Flambards TV Show.
91. The kitchen range was uncovered from a large Georgina House in Bath – dismantled in one day and reassembled at Flambards in two days.
92. This kitchen has all the mod-cons of the day – a mincing machine on the table, apple peeler, marmalade shredder, portable butter churn on the dresser, and the newest addition, a steam pressure cooker!

CHEMIST SHOP TIME CAPSULE

93. William White’s Chemist Shop was discovered in a Somerset village in 1987. It had been entombed for eighty years!
94. William White practised his profession in this shop from the year 1880 until his death in 1909, ending his management of the pharmacy. His son was unqualified to dispense drugs so boarded up the store.
95. The presence of the sealed room went unsuspected by the outside world until the death of the last of William’s granddaughters. The property was to be sold, ending a 107-year occupancy by the White family.
96. It was only then that the locked door was opened to reveal the hidden store, frozen in time, exactly as William had left it nearly eighty years earlier. Upon hearing of the incredible discovery, Flambards rescued the shop and began a painstaking task of numbering and charting thousands of artefacts.
97. After examining the contents of the store, it was discovered that William White, though primarily a chemist, also dealt to some degree in groceries – especially teas and tobacco, wines and spirits. Not at all unusual in a village environment in Victorian times.
98. In the winter of 1988, the Flambards team rebuilt the store in its new home, and reassembled every medicine bottle, apothecary jar, quartz carboy, demijohn, and pill dispenser in exactly the same positions they were found in, cobwebs and all!

DISCOVER SOMETHING NEW

99. Have you tried the ‘Who Dunnit Trail’ which takes you on a spotter journey around the Village to solve a mystery?
100. Look out for the enchanted portraits of Dreadful Jack, the village Penny Dreadful seller, as they spring to life while you walk by.
101. All the props and packaging you see in Flambards Victorian Village are authentic artefacts collected from around the UK. - Many of the well-known brands that we are familiar with today were around during the Victorian era. How many do you recognise?