1940s Swansea Bay

I've had the most wonderful birthday weekend! On Saturday, it was a girly day trip to 1940s Swansea Bay, a little museum that I've driven past numerous times and always wondered about. They serve Camp coffee and Spam sandwiches in the cafe, but we weren't brave enough to try any so just headed into the museum where they have recreated an air-raid shelter, a 1940s street scene, and have a pictorial history of the war in South Wales. There's also a room with a few rails of 40's clothing, mostly uniforms, that you are free to try on. Any excuse for my friends and I to dress up!!




We then headed back to mine for a champagne afternoon tea - an absolutely huge spread, and we were quite stuffed and happy afterwards. Katy made fairycakes with lemon curd in, so delicious (and very easy to make too, just put a little of your standard fairy cake mixture in the paper case, add a teaspoon of lemon curd, and top up the cake mixture. The curd sinks to the bottom of the cake during baking).

In the evening, I hosted a Hatter's Tea Party - everyone had to wear a hat, of any description, and I served Pimms and lemonade out of teapots. It was fun watching some of the menfolk drink out of dainty little teacups! I have to say that Fleur's Peanut Butter Swirls went down particularly well, despite me having poorly executed the swirling part.

I also had attempted to do some 40's style curls, it ended up more pin-up than true 40s, but I was putting a hat on top anyway so wasn't too bothered. Here's a before and after comparison anyway, and you can also see a glimpse of my lovely 1940s dressing gown, which is surprisingly psychedelic for the time!



Then yesterday I made a quick swoop to the Blind Lemon Vintage Fashion Fair in Cardiff's Coal Exchange. I only ended up buying a magazine from 1952, but was tempted by a few 20s/30s evening capes. On the whole I'm not sure I have the patience for vintage fairs as there tends to be an awful lot of 60s-80s, which I'm not really interested in. Having to sift through it all can be a bit of a chore, so I always go straight to Vintage and Revival if they have a stall as they have the early stuff, and all the clothes have been properly measured and display the measurements on the tags.

All in all, a lovely birthday weekend - more pictures to come!