Blists Hill Victorian Town

Overall a great day out. Wonderful Victorian shops and businesses recreated from original buildings, dismantled and rebuilt brick-by-brick. Staffed by cheerful and knowledgeable employees and volunteers dressed in Victorian-style costumes. Plenty to enjoy for children as well with a beautiful funfair, giant sandpit and well equipped play-park. Lots of tasteful and useful souvenirs made from materials of the era, in wood, tile, plaster and metal. Lots to tempt the wallet! My only criticism and the reason for not giving 5* was the cleanliness of the cafe & toilets at the entrance/exit. Although the glass dining tables had supposedly been cleaned, they were sticky with visible fingerprints, with dusty plastic imitation flowers, a material that should be avoided as far as possible in a Victorian themed village. For hygiene reasons, the glass jars containing condiment sachets should ideally not be left on tables in between guests, because we could see that some slovenly previous diner had consumed personal medication and then dumped the opened foil wrapper inside the condiment jar on our table, and whoever had cleared the table afterwards, however many times, clearly hadn’t noticed. The toilets hadn’t been cleaned properly on our arrival and they remained that way at our departure several hours later. I’ve seen cleaner toilets at fast food joints and railway stations.