Ushaw Historic House - August 6th

We were in France during the end of July and early August and didn't get home until the evening of the 4th of August. As a result, we didn't go to the Ushaw event on Saturday, as we were still unpacking and recovering from a long trip up country. I have to some maintenance to do on the Dodge and Ford, so we just took Jessie for the day. Ushaw Historic House and Chaple was a religious college in its hay-day and it's a huge complex. The aerial picture below shows the complex, excluding the playing fields. The picture was displayed just inside the building, along with a large model of the site. Two years ago, the event was held on the playing fields, but the large amount of rain over the last two weeks forces a change to parking in front of the main building.
We had a wander around the buildings during the morning and these few pictures show how grand the interior is. Some of the re-enactor displays were indoors, mainly as a result of the heavy rain on Saturday. In one of the chaples was a display of 1940s wedding dresses. The last picture shows one of the other chaples, badly damaged in an arson attack earlier this year. I don't know whether this will be pulled down or restored.
There were around ten vehicles on show across the front of the building, the majority being Jeeps, but also a Dodge Command Car and a couple of civilian cars. Most of the outdoor dioramas were set up on the grass at each end of the main building. Opposite the house was the gardens, but unfortunately for photographs, all the food and ice cream vans were parked along here, so I tried to avoid taking photos in that direction.
During the day, a film crew were following "Country File" and former "Blue Peter" presenter, Matt Baker around, along with his parents. They were filming an episode for the upcoming series of "Matt Baker: Travels with Mum & Dad". I took a few pictures during the filming, some of which are shown below.
Many of the usual faces and vehicles turned out for the event and there seemed to be a good number of public around all day. My photographs don't always show how busy the events get, as I usually try to avoid too many people getting in shot.
The "Hand-Me-Down-Brigade" were there with their Home Front display and a little further along to the left, a nice vintage caravan and some additional dioramas. At the other end of the house was the field kitchen. Indoors were more displays of weapons, radios and field equipment and Julie Pickard doing 1940s hair styles for people.
The event ran from 10am to 4pm, but we ended up staying until around 5pm while the film crew got a few additional shots of the cast taking some 1940s dance lessons.

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