We are extremely lucky to live in part of the country where we once housed Charles Dickens both in his early years and his last years; because of this we have several events throughout the year in Rochester to enjoy together.
One of my favourites is the Dickensian Christmas which was a staple event of my childhood and one that I like to get the boys involved with too!
The boys Mum also volunteers at these events so it suits us both to be involved; myself as a eager onlooker and herself as a breastfeeding support worker. So once I had collected the boys we were off to check our this years festivities.
We started off going through the Christmas market and fairground and as expected from yesterday it was much busier!
We took part in the competition to name the Nutcracker; the boys wanted to call him Norris. We would love you to click here and give the tweet a retweet to help us win!
As you can see, central Rochester was incredibly busy and it was literally a gentle flow of traffic throughout with people jumping in and out depending on the direction that they were going in! After a bit of a catastrophe last year I had some foresight to take my scooter!
That being said, everyone was lovely and polite and accommodating and helping each other out!
Then knowing that the parade along the high street was starting we made sure we had the best spot to see all of the characters taking part!
A real mix of Victorian characters in their winter dress.
We even came across some of Dickens characters!
Here is a couple dressed as Nancy and Bill Sykes. You can't see it here but Bill had his own dog Bullseye!
We even saw Fagin!
After we took some time to stop and say hello to some reindeer! Couldn't quite see Rudolph though! ;)
We then decided to head up and down the high street and just enjoy the merriment of the event and being around others enjoying it too!
Up and down the High Street there were little pockets of snow machines kicking out some snow. The boys loved dancing around and playing in this. But, it wasn't just children having fun, in the above picture a lovely older gentleman decided to dance around with the boys!
One aspect that I love is the willingness of the people who dress up to embrace the festivities in full character and interact with the children!
Although, I wasn't too keen on being man handled by Fagin! "Shut up and drink your Gin!"
It must have been my winter beard! ;)
As always, we loved this day out! It is fantastic to be together as a community and as a family. Everyone who participates volunteers and puts full effort to make the event a success. The crowds might be busy and you may need to plan your journey but it is worth every second to go along.
It is both a chance to become enchanted by a feast of Victorian delights and festivities and of history and community brought together in the joy of Christmas for all to enjoy! Rochester becomes a winter wonderland with the lamps lit, parades, reindeer, an open air carol concert and street performers and really isn't something to miss out on!
If you are interested in going there is another day on Sunday 4th December!
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