1940s Day At Haden Hill House
A bank holiday is the perfect chance to enjoy a family day out, but with the weather not exactly looking tropical last weekend, I didn’t really fancy traveling to far afield. With this in mind we decided to enjoy the 1940s day at Haden Hill House, a gorgeous Manor House built in Cradley Heath in 1878, with a much older Tudor hall next door. Haden Hill House is now a Sandwell Museum, and is set in some exquisite park land that now has a children’s playground, forest and woodland walks to enjoy.
On Monday, Haden Hill House played host to a 1940s day. Now, I am rather partial to the style and the music of the 1940s, and fancied a little bit of dressing up, so I hoped the rain would hold and went to enjoy all that was on offer. Entrance was free, although there were some refreshment stands and a few craft stores where you could buy something. This was my one disappointment about the day, I was hoping for some vintage clothing and accessories stores, but sadly there were none. (definitely a tip for next time Sandwell).
But there were plenty of other things to enjoy. The music from the Steve King Big Band was just wonderful, totally evocative of a time when things may have been pretty awful, but the music was pretty wonderful. There were soldiers and civilians were walking around in different costumes, members of the Forever 40s reenactment group, and there were fabulous vintage vehicles to look at and enjoy.
Inside the Tudor part of the hall there was a chance to try some wartime food, as long as you bought a ration card first for £1(such a lovely idea). The food included Spam sandwiches and Anzac biscuits and was pretty revolting to say the least. But it was still interesting to try it.
The 1940s Day was also a perfect excuse to take a good look at Haden Hill House. It is a truly stunning building, especially for anyone who is a fan of the Arts and Crafts Movement or beautiful glasswork. I loved the tiled floors, the period features and lovingly recreated rooms. It is a lovely place and one definitely worth a visit.
We had a lovely few hours at Haden Hill House and applaud Sandwell Council for putting on free events for families in their wonderful museums.
Getting into costume
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12 Comments
Sandwell Museums Manager
Glad you had a great time and loved the Victorian house and the 17th century house too as well as the activities put on for the day. It was a lovely event and we had a great turn out. The band are brilliant too and create a great atmosphere. We have had a handful of vintage stalls in the past (We don’t have room for more than a few for this event) and they didn’t do that well so we haven’t bothered the last few stalls. Although sometimes we do host full vintage fairs – in fact we have one at the Manor House on 19th May 🙂 . We hope you continue to come along and enjoy our events – thanks for writing and posting about it.
Krysten Quiles
First of all, you look beautiful. Second, this looks like so much fun. Thanks for sharing!
Anagha
This sounds like a perfect outgoing day for family. I like arts and crafts, the glasses have nice textures. I would like to visit this type of house.
Tara Pittman
So cool that they had the food of that time. I guess when one is hungry they will eat Spam
Cristina Petrini
The 40s and 50s are my absolute favorites and when there are events like these it’s like being thrown into those ages and enjoying the vibes!
Monidipa Dutta
I love Victorian stuff. It really looks so great. And I love these pictures. You truly had a great time.
Claire Lee
Sounds like a fun day with the family! The thing I love most about historic era styles are their architecture and design.
David Elliott
It looks like such a fun day there. I love those kinds of throwback days where you get to wear vintage clothing. Disney has the Dapper Days at Disneyland and my daughter and I love doing it. It’s such a lot of fun.
leah
what a beautiful location! I love having stuff to do that surrounds historical places!
Alexandra Cook
That looks like it would be so much fun! Throwback events bring out the best in people sometimes!
Sundeep
Looks like you had an amazing time with family. Vintage days are awesome. I really like the design and architecture
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