Family fun at the fair

"Step back in time with the spellbinding Carter's steam fair" promised the posters. As we arrived at the usually quiet green, it was clear that we were about to do just that; we were met by an array of colourful, shiny vintage vehicles, trucks, cars, trailers, caravans, all superbly preserved and fabulous. 

Then, there was the smell: a smell that conjures up memories of fun times -candyfloss, popcorn and roasting nuts. The rides and stalls were a wonderful mix of classic oldies such as bumper cars and watzers, vintage thrill rides and kids carousels, all blasting out music of a bygone era.

The girls had a fantastic time, Princess went on a couple of rides, was overjoyed to win a prize by catching a rubber duck on a hook, and had an icecream from a fantastic vintage ice cream van, but her absolute favourite thing of all was the helter skelter. She went on 3 times, once with daddy and twice with me, and it was just like I remember from being a child. Carrying our mat to the top of the spiral stairs, the wooden slide with ridges in, and sliding down faster and faster till we landed on a mat on the grass. I can see why she loved it.

And although Grapie was too small to go on the rides, she had a great time soaking in the atmosphere, dancing to the music, people watching, and she loved looking at the carousel horses. We will just have to come back next year when she is big enough to go on, but this year, she was pretty pleased to win a prize too!