Hold onto your top hats and tighten those corsets… Horrible Histories is coming to Beaulieu this May!
From 23 May to 31 August follow Rattus, the cheeky rat from Horrible Histories, on a trail packed with dreadful discoveries, delightfully disgusting details and plenty of interactive fun. In partnership with Scholastic who publish the books written by Terry Deary and illustrated by Martin Brown, this is the Vile Victorians like you’ve never seen them before… If you think Victorian times were all fancy frocks, polite tea parties and perfectly proper behaviour, think again. Behind the frills and finery lurked murderous motors, stomach-churning tales of foul food, and fashions so fearsome they could make even the bravest visitor faint!
Dive into the connections between Beaulieu and its Victorian past and uncover facts you may wish you’d never learned – if you’re brave enough.
Starting near the National Motor Museum, discover how the Victorians unleashed motoring madness! Some hailed the motor car as the future of travel, while others moaned that this noisy, horse-scaring menace would ruin society. Dive into the fantastic and frightful motoring firsts of the Victorian era and see how they left tyre tracks (and trouble) that still shape our motoring world today. You may even spot some of these incredible Victorian inventions inside the National Motor Museum’s newest gallery, Driven: Britain’s Motoring Story.
The Victorians loved coming up with new inventions, and as you step out of the National Motor Museum and make your way to the Monorail station, you’ll learn of one especially inventive chap, The Hon. John Scott Montagu (a non-vile Victorian, thankfully, and Lord Montagu’s grandfather), who adored motor cars before most people had even seen one. But his bold prediction for the future of transport was monorails! Beaulieu’s isn’t quite as high-speed as the Victorians had predicted, but it is still wonderfully wacky and a great addition to your day out.
Venture further into the grounds to discover village life the Victorian way. Villagers worked their soggy socks off, with milkmaids, mole-catchers, mowers and blacksmiths all playing their part in Beaulieu’s busy past. Put your thinking cap on and see if you can match the jobs to the characters, then strike a pose and snap a photo as one yourself!
Down at the gardens, you’ll see that living in Victorian Britain could be painful, smelly and cruel. Could you have survived even one single day? Parents would come up with their own cheap ways of treating their children’s illnesses, and most would shock a modern doctor. They might be odd, but can you work out which ones are true or false?
Palace House is a must-see stop on your journey through Victorian Beaulieu and is a fine example of a grand country house from the era. Step inside and you’ll find it still packed with family treasures, portraits and memorabilia, all brimming with stories and more than a little character from its Victorian past.
Back in Victorian times, help from servants was a must in a grand home like Palace House, but life below stairs came with some strict rules. Uniforms had to be just so and everyone was expected to stay fit and healthy for the job. The hours were long, and the work was hard… but at least it wasn’t usually dangerous, and the Montagu’s held their staff in high regard.
Venture down to the Victorian Kitchen, if you dare, because the Victorians’ tasty treats would make you gag in today’s world. While we tuck into pizza, burgers and chocolate, they scoffed down slimy, wobbly jellied eels! Hygiene? Optional. Food? Weird and sometimes downright disgusting. Can you see these vile Victorian foods on display in the kitchen, and guess which options on the menu the Montagu’s actually ate?
Be sure to head upstairs to uncover the dangers of deadly fashion! Victorian style could be fabulously fatal. From arsenic-dyed green gowns that quietly poisoned their wearers to tight corsets that squeezed ribs and lungs like murderous hugs. Feathered hats pushed birds towards extinction, and skirts could go up in flames in seconds. In Victorian Britain, looking good could be risky business! But don’t panic, the fashions in Palace House today are perfectly safe. So dive in, dress up, and strike a pose… before the corset gets any tighter!
Before you leave, don’t forget to stop by the Visitor Reception Gift Shop to pick up a perfectly horrible souvenir of your Vile Victorian adventure! From Horrible Histories-inspired goodies to quirky keepsakes, there’s something to remind every brave visitor of their day of dreadful discoveries. Whether you’re after a fun memento or a gift for a fellow history fan, it’s the perfect way to take a little piece of the past home with you (no poisons or peril included!).
Dare to discover the grim, the gruesome and the very vile this summer at Beaulieu? Visit between 23 May to 31 August and book your Horrible Histories together day here.