Frost Fayre Advent Calendar by Alice Pattullo.
Frost Fair advent calendar travels through time, taking inspiration from activities and events from both the Great Fair of the winter of 1683–84 and the most famous and final fair of 1814.
The London Frost Fairs were a phenomenon that spanned more than 200 years, with the last fair being held in 1814. When London was at its coldest, the River Thames would freeze over, stopping transport along the river and forcing Londoners to take their trades onto the ice.
Over time this resulted in a winter-long spectacle where visitors could experience all sorts on the ice, including ice skating, sledging, nine-pin bowling, fox hunting, rides in horse-drawn boats and, purportedly, one year watching an elephant being paraded across the ice. You could treat yourself to hot chocolate, gingerbread, hot codlins, spit-roasted ox and purl (a hot ale mixed with gin and spices) from makeshift pubs in tents made from sails held up with oars. If you could bear the queues, you could even go home with a personalised printed souvenir from one of the multiple printing presses set up on the ice
