A horse in colourful medieval garb ambles past, its rider heading off to the first sword fight of the day. From across the fence, music from a group of jitterbug dancers boogie-woogies through the air. And here, in a small field dotted with picnic benches, a group of red-coated cavaliers are preparing for a musket demonstration. “I’ve tried muskets but I close my eyes when I fire,” confides Victoria Barton, who chooses to stand behind the safety line with me as the fighters load and light up their weapons. “Plus,” she says, as their guns fire, clouds of smoke blooming over the soldiers’ heads, “I like my eyelashes.”
When I visit, there are 65 re-enactors here at Chiltern Open Air Museum, a 45-acre site that has hosted the filming of Horrible Histories, Downton Abbey and Masters of the Air. Most of the participants at this weekend event, all re-creating battles or soldiers’ encampments not just from the civil wars but across the ages, are volunteers. They give up their evenings and weekends to breathe life into old stories.
