Recently I left behind the hustle and bustle of London and spent a
sunny bank holiday Saturday at Nottingham Race Course attending a Vintage
Carnival with my family.
Nottingham has some great vintage events and this one
promised to be bigger and better than any others the city has put on before.
Tickets were £7 or £5 if you bought the early bird tickets.
We arrived early and joined the queue of men, women and
children, many of whom had got into the spirit of the event and applied their
red lipstick, rolled their hair and dusted off their tweed jackets.
As soon as you enter the carnival you are met with a
beautiful carousel ride and traditional children's field games such as Tin Can
Alley, Ball in the Bucket and The Mighty Striker.
Moving past that there was an amazing selection of vintage cars that their owners were all stood displaying with their proud puffed out chests.
Moving past that there was an amazing selection of vintage cars that their owners were all stood displaying with their proud puffed out chests.
My favourite had to be this gorgeous bubble pink Thunderbird
that look just like something Lady Penelope would be driven around in.
Being a foodie it was great to see a variety of different independent food and drink stalls selling wood fired pizzas to beef brisket to Jamaican jerk chicken with rice and peas. The food was reasonably priced and the pizza stall served up deliciously tasty stone baked pizzas all from their converted horse box business.
Being a foodie it was great to see a variety of different independent food and drink stalls selling wood fired pizzas to beef brisket to Jamaican jerk chicken with rice and peas. The food was reasonably priced and the pizza stall served up deliciously tasty stone baked pizzas all from their converted horse box business.
The vintage stalls were sectioned into two areas. The open
air section at the back of the race course and the indoors in one of the
pavilion areas.
My sister in law bought some gorgeous brown and cream patent
court shoes with a ribbon bow and whilst I didn’t buy anything personally I did
fall in love with this little bow tie stall made from recycle vintage fabrics.
The carnival was by now filling up fast and crowds were
gathering to have their hair coiffured into a vintage roll or have the perfect
cat flick eyes created by some of the make up stands.
By a country mile
though one of my favourite parts of the day was coming across a vintage stall
that seemed to stock everything from my 80s and 90s childhood.
From an Edd the Duck to the baby dinosaur from 90s tv show
Dinosaurs, to the big yellow teapot house I'm sure that every girl in the 80s played
with at some point or another.
It was like a step back in time to my old bedroom and my
brother and I certainly had a few giggles as the nostalgia washed over and we
remembered how much fun we used to have with these toys when life was simple
and all you had to worry about was what you were having for dinner or how many
levels you could complete on your favourite Sega mega drive game before your
mum made you go to bed.
I filled my belly up with a glass of bubbly prosecco and a 99 ice cream with a flake before heading home a couple of hours later.
The vintage carnival was a lot of fun and I will definitely be looking to go to the next one in September.
If you live in the East Midlands and are looking for
something different to do at the weekends then book your early bird tickets and
go and have a fun day out or even step back in time to your childhood.
Thanks for reading, back soon.
Nic x
