How a History Nerd found her folk — The Chalke Valley History Festival 2021
I hadn’t heard of the Chalke Valley History Festival until I started listening to the Second World War podcast ‘We Have Ways of Making You Talk’ with Al Murray and James Holland. When I looked into it, I found that it seemed like it would be everything I wanted in the world. Talks from experts, living history, and books galore. What with the global situation I resigned myself to it not happening for another year, and that I’d get to go in 2022.
When the camping booking opened up in April 2021, it all changed. We decided to go. The festival was a month before my 22nd birthday, so the tickets would be my birthday present from my parents. We booked the camping for five nights, and a month later we booked the tickets for whatever talks we could get our hands on from our holiday cottage in the Peak District.
We packed the car the night before, and at 8am on Wednesday 23rd June, we set off from Norfolk for the long drive down to Broad Chalke, Wiltshire. The weather forecast wasn’t looking fantastic and my mother and I are not seasoned campers by any stretch — she’d not slept in a tent since her gap year in Africa in 1989, and I had only slept in a tent once, in the Queue for Wimbledon in Wimbledon Park. We arrived and set up in one piece, our tent ending up between two Civil War re-enactors. The campsite was, wonderfully, full of re-enactors, and it only took a couple of days until we could distinguish the sound of a Roman Centurion walking past at half past 8.
The first event we went to was ‘The Audience Re-Enacts the Battle of Trafalgar with Dan Snow’ — which was a real hoot. Dan is a fantastic storyteller and is fantastic at getting people involved, so we watched as he ordered around kids and grandparents, separated as the British Navy and the combined French and Spanish Navies, effortlessly explaining the most famous Naval battle in British, or perhaps World, history.
Then, we listened to James Holland talk about the Sherman v The T34 85. A lot of it went over my head and I still don’t understand anything about tanks, but it did make my boyfriend very jealous so it was definitely worth it.
I was lucky on the Thursday to get a return ticket for Paul Lay’s talk ‘Providence Lost: The Rise and Fall of Cromwell’s Protectorate’. I know absolutely nothing about the Civil War period and what Cromwell did, so it was all brand new information that was absolutely fascinating. I was very grateful that I had the opportunity to meet Paul afterwards and get a book signed. It was particularly wonderful for the whole weekend to hardly have to worry about COVID. I had my first vaccine about a week and a half before the festival, and it felt a little like the world was getting back to normal, though that could be pushed back.
The afternoon followed with a talk about Alfred the Great with Philip St Lawrence, another subject on which I found myself woefully ignorant. What I found so wonderful about the Chalke Valley History Festival was the sheer range of subjects. Whilst the focus is on the Second World War, as is expected from something founded by James Holland, the fact I could go from Cromwell’s state to Alfred the Great in one fell swoop did, and does, absolutely delight me.
Thursday also brought perhaps my favourite talk of the weekend — Remarkable Women in History with Bee Rowlatt, Mary Ann Sieghart, and Lucy Moore. Bee Rowlatt spoke with such passion about Mary Wollstonecraft, yet another blank area for me, that I bought her book and I have devoured it. It is a wonderful exploration of Wollstonecraft by following her footsteps across Scandinavia with a baby alone in search of some stolen silver, a feat completed by Wollstonecraft in 1795 and Rowlatt in the early 2010s. Sieghart spoke about why women are still taken less seriously than men. It was a life-changing talk that has absolutely pushed me to not take no for an answer.
A talk about the Mitford sisters was next, which I found fascinating. I have been a fan of Nancy Mitford’s novels for years, I always return to ‘The Pursuit of Love’ and ‘Love in a Cold Climate’ for comfort. To hear about the sisters from a woman who met two of them and who knows them better than anybody else in the world was wonderful, and we took a copy of Laura Thompson’s book ‘Take Six Girls’ home for my Granny.
That evening Dan Snow was in charge of stories around the campfire, and he told us why he loves history, and all about his Canadian family who instilled the love of history in him. It was fascinating and personal and relaxed and a wonderful 45 minutes of getting to know somebody that you’re used to seeing on the TV.
Friday was the first day it felt properly busy and properly like the world may finally be recovering. We started the day with coffee and pastries and cans of Red Bull from the Chalke Valley Stores van that was at the campsite every morning — thank you so much for that. We learnt about Richard the Lionheart from Ben Kane, a topic about which I knew a little but not a lot.
Then, we had the wonderfully entertaining We Have Ways of Making You Talk Live! with James Holland and Al Murray. Despite the unintentional heckling from an Army Bugler, they discussed with great vigour the best and worst moments for the British during the Second World War. I only knew about the festival thanks to We Have Ways, so I was delighted to be there.
The Histrionics Quiz Show was a hilarious shambles, each round more ridiculous than the last and each joke from Harry Enfield’s mouth dirtier than the last. It was a wonderful break from intense intellectualism. My small brain can only handle so much, so a quick run of dirty jokes from ‘Tim Nice But Dim’ certainly helped.
The final event of Friday was my favourite by a country mile — I know I said Remarkable Women in History was but I was lying. The legend that is Michael Wood told us the most wonderful story from Arthurian Legend, the Lady of the Fountain. I find I tell myself the story every single day so I don’t forget it. Michael is a phenomenal storyteller and the story dragged you in that you forget that your toes were freezing off as the night drew in. I consider myself very lucky indeed that I got to be there to listen to this legend tell this wonderful story.
Saturday started with James Holland talking all things Sicily 1943 and Operation Husky, which was fascinating. I have a copy of James’ book Sicily 43 but I haven’t read it yet and the talk was a brilliant little insight into what I’ll find in there.
We then caught the end of Katja Hoyer’s talk with Dan Snow on the Rise and Fall of the German Empire 1874–1918, and the little bit we heard was interesting as we waited for the next talk on the History Hit Stage. My mum and I are huge Time Team fans, so when we saw there would be a talk by three Time Team alumnus, including the legendary Phil Harding, there was no way we could say no. We listened with great intensity as they spoke about pre-history, favourite digs, and the crisis that British archaeology is facing.
The afternoon continued with Dan Snow filling in, talking about the Spanish Armada. He did so with very little warning and easily filled an hour with pure passion for the age of sail.
Saturday was finished off with Michael Wood taking us through the will of 10th century woman Winflud (sp?). Winflud lived in the Chalke Valley in the 900s, and her will is the earliest that survives from a woman in this country. Michael was fascinating as he explained every request and item, explaining the significance of each thing. I was lucky enough to meet Michael afterwards and he encouraged me not to give up on my dream of pursuing history in some sort of way as a career. I will forever be grateful for his advice and the kinds words.
The weather turned on Sunday so I was glad for an hour in a tented talk as Dan Snow took us through the Seven Years War, a conflict I’d never heard of but the obvious precursor to my beloved Napoleonic Wars. Again, I got to meet Dan afterwards and he was just as lovely as I’d hoped.
The final thing we attended before we left on the Sunday was the demonstration of Second World War anti-tank guns by the Royal Artillery Volunteers. It was a very loud half an hour learning about guns.
Throughout the weekend, I met some of my heroes, learnt about things I’d never even heard of, and I felt like I found my tribe. For once I felt like I belonged somewhere, and I cannot wait for next year. Thank you to everyone involved in making it happen and everyone who spoke.
See you in the Chalke Valley in 2022!
