We were gifted with free rides and food and drink for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are our own.
A couple of years ago, we were kindly invited to check out Carters Steam Fair. Last weekend, they arrived back in my area again and we were invited back to check it out once more. As Olivia is now 4, a few more rides were now available to her so she was very excited to check it out!
Carters Steam Fair are a traditional vintage travelling steam fair with rides dating from the 1890’s onwards. They have been rescuing and restoring vintage fairground rides for many years now and have started travelling around the country once again. It was at Boxmoor in Hemel last weekend and is back this weekend too – don’t forget to check the website to see if it is coming to your area soon!
If you do head to Boxmoor, there is going to be a fantastic free firework display over the fair on the 11th of September.
About Carters Vintage Funfair
The fair has a range of rides suitable for all ages including a set of beautifully restored British Galloper horses dating from the 1890s. Their dodgems have also recently been featured in an art installation at Somerset House in London. This is the first time that the fair has been on the road since 2019 and the fairground experience is covid-secure with plenty of hand sanitising stations and rides being cleaned and sanitised at regular intervals as well as being spaced out to allow visitors to social distance.
Their vintage rides have featured in films including Rocketman and Paddington 2. You might hav also noticed the traditional artwork and hand painted lettering at the fair going viral on TikTok with many people across the world joining Joby Carter’s virtual signwriting and lettering courses and many copies of his signwriting book sold too. The global interest in these skills has helped save the fair and ensure it can continue in these tough times.
How much does it cost?
Entry to the fair is free; there is a pay per ride system. Unlike a theme park where everyone pays to enter, you only pay for the rides you ride on so grandparents can come along too without having to pay an admission price.
Individually bought, tokens are 50p each. Rides for younger children are 5 tokens, the rest and sidestalls are 6 tokens. The swingboats are 4 tokens per person. You can pre order tokens online and collect at the fair and you can get extra value this way – a £20 bundle will give you 40 tokens plus two free ride passes.
Should you run out of tokens, you can buy more at the fair and there is always a deal of the day at the ticket booth but this isn’t as good as the only deal. You can also use your ride tokens another day if you wish. And if Carters is coming yo your area, check their Facebook and Instagram pages as they give away ride token bundles often.
Where Are They Stopping?
- 4&5 and 11&12 Sept – Hemel
- 18&19 Sept Croxley Green
- 25&26 Sept Basingstoke
- 2&3 Oct Englefield Green near Runnymede
- 16&17 October Reading
So what did we think?
We arrived not long after the fair opened and it was already heaving. It was a good day weather wise so that wasn’t a surprise. It was quick and easy to get in – we just queued up for the ticket booth before entering via a gate onto the site. For the purpose of review, I was gifted with some ride tickets, some hook a duck vouchers, some hot drinks vouchers and some pick and mix for the kids.
The rides were all well spaced out and looked very impressive. They all looked clean and well maintained and I liked that how Covid safe the site was with plenty of places to sanitise your hands and staff often cleaning and sanitising the rides.
The kids went on a variety of rides and had lots of fun! Olivia was absolutely petrified of the swingboats however! Although she did like seeing the man loading the coal into it, ready to make it ride!
The rides are all a lot of fun and very affordable and all very well maintained and pristine. I could not recommend riding on them more.
There’s also plenty of food trucks available including a burger van, a candyfloss van and a gorgeous ice cream van that you can see below. We had to grab an ice cream from it and they even had rainbow cones which made Olivia’s day!
There are also plenty of stalls that you come to expect at the fair – rifle shooting, beanbags and of course, the good old hook a duck! Olivia won and chose a puppy dog and Jack won and chose a dalmatian, of course!
We had a fantastic day out at Carters Steam Fair and are considering visiting again tomorrow! If Carters comes to your area, please do pay them a visit. You won’t regret it!
It looks like you had a great time, my kids used to love fairs when they were younger and had many a great trip to the fair. I go through Runnymeade if traffic is bad when seeing my grandchildren so may get to take them
This looks like so much fun, the kids look like they’re having a great time. This is super close to me so I may need to check it out x
Aww, I love an old-fashioned funfair, so I would love this. It’s a shame they won’t be in Cardiff as I would’ve liked to have gone!