Forty eight hours of work and pleasure beckoned as we drove
across the Severn Bridge and over the border into Wales at 8 pm on Friday
night. The plan? Our highly anticipated flirtation with the
steampunk scene at the Chepstow Steampunk Winter Festival on Saturday, followed
by a day of leisurely exploration on Sunday.
As per usual, my hastily written directions were
insufficient and failed to take into account Chepstow’s one way system and the
fact that our digs for the weekend were literally in the middle of
nowhere. This caused just a little
in-transit conflict. A sat nav is now
top of my Christmas list. We seem to
have studiously ignored the virtues of these handy little devices, telling
ourselves that we are too reliant on technology, preferring our travels to be
punctuated by a war of words and raging headaches. This time I really mean it - Sat nav, Santa, please!
We eventually made it without having to call the cottage
owner. Even in pitch darkness, it was
clear that we had chosen well (I’ll overlook the fact that Gaz missed the
unlit steps, almost knackering his ankle in the process and suffered minor
concussion from hitting his head on the doorframe). Home for the weekend was a beautifully converted stable block in
the grounds of a farm (so far, so nativity story) with a huge freestanding bath
and a coffee machine. Obviously there
was other furniture, but those are the kind of things that float our boat so to
speak.
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| Too early for a Saturday morning! |
At 7 am on Saturday morning, this was the view from our very
frosty stable door. Going about our normal
breakfast routine dressed in full on Steampunk clothing felt surprisingly
normal. With no sign of the “persistent
stray cat” we were warned not to encourage (thank God, we’d have found that
impossible!), we headed into Chepstow.
Chepstow’s Drill Hall was our workplace for the day and
these fascinating creatures were our colleagues.
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| Check out the fascinator! |
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| Dr Cornelius Porridge |
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| Real, smoke breathing dragons and their owners |
We took a bit of a flyer with this event, fancying something
to break the winter monotony and it was refreshing to be unloaded and set up
within a 60 minute timeframe. Handmade
Steampunk Top Hats, bandanas, steampunk-inspired stickers and select items from
our clothing range to offer the steampunk crowd an off-duty look were set out
on rich red velvet clad tables.
Obviously Dr Jones had to make an appearance for the day and everyone
agreed he was the most photographed individual (and there was some stiff
competition).
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| Dr Jones doing his thang |
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| Beautiful steampunk clothing |
Surprisingly, no music was on offer, so after clearing it
with the organisers, we soon had the place not quite rocking, but definitely
toe-tapping to Professor Elemental (think old chap rap and you’ll be somewhere
close).
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| Gaz taking five |
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| All set up |
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| "I've lost my wind instrument!" |
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| Steampunks! |
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| Steampunk Morris Dancers |
My heart bled for the creator of Imps and Things and his amazing sculptures. I fell in love with these imps
in baubles but I couldn’t justify £45 for a Christmas decoration, although we
both agreed that if he worked out his hourly rate for making these creatures,
he’d probably sink into a deep depression.
But hey, that’s not what motivates him and thank goodness there are
people in the world like that.
Close of play was 4 pm and after packing the van, we had to
unpack it again in freezing semi-darkness to locate the “safe place” Gaz had
put the van keys.
Saturday night we relaxed and filled our faces.
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| Tintern Abbey |
Sunday, a much cloudier day, started with a lie in, a mooch
around the atmospheric Tintern Abbey and a short detour to Gloucester.
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| Such a cool sign |
This kind of establishment is a magnet for us. I talked myself down from a mohair rug
impulse purchase.
Being Sunday drivers, we eschewed the motorway in favour of
the scenic route, returning home to a small pile of missed delivery cards (why
did I start internet Christmas shopping on Friday ahead of a weekend away?!)
and a truly awful Linda McCartney Vegetarian Beef Roast. I’m trying to clear the freezer and have
long been “nut roast curious,” so tonight was the night. Actually, it wasn’t technically a nut roast,
but the synthetic flavoured pile of excrement, which promised an “outrageously
succulent” veggie beef roast has killed my curiosity stone dead.
So, in summary, did the Steampunks approve of Voodoo Street? Well, according to renowned performer, Dr Cornelius Porridge's Facebook post, he certainly did and that's good enough for me!
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