SS Great Britain launches ‘Victorian Flower Crafting’ for families this half term

Published On: February 7th, 2024

SS Great Britain launches ‘Victorian Flower Crafting’ for families this half term

The ship is celebrating its botanical links with Australia and the world’s most exotic plants crossing continents

This February half term (10-18 February), Brunel’s SS Great Britain invites families to step back in time and explore the fascinating history of Victorian plant migration.

Visitors will have the opportunity to get hands-on with Victorian-inspired flower craft activities. Children and their families can discover their inner botanist onboard at drop-in flower crafting sessions and create their very own Victorian-inspired paper flower or beautiful pressed flower bookmark. These keepsakes can be taken home as a reminder of the floral fun they had on board.

The global migration of plants peaked in the Victorian period, largely thanks to steamships like the SS Great Britain. These ships were much faster than established sailing vessels, so plants had more chance of surviving long journeys – being transported in specialist weatherproof Wardian cases.

Plants from England were transported to Australia, where British colonists wanted to recreate the English countryside in their gardens and landscapes, which were considered very fashionable. In England, however, the demand of the day was for exotic plants. An obsession with orchids drove plant hunters to seek rare varieties, some sold for up to £300 in the 1850s (£31,000 today).

Key Facts

Drop-in craft sessions will happen every day during the February half term (10-18 February), in the First Class Dining Saloon, from 11am-2pm.
Make a Victorian inspired paper flower or pressed flower bookmark.
For children 18 and under and their families.
Free with admission.

For enquiries, please email LD@LD-3.COM

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Key facts about Brunel’s SS Great Britain

The SS Great Britain now rests in the very dock where it was built.
Known as ‘the world’s first great ocean liner’, the ship sailed around the world 32 times, travelling more than 1,000,000 miles at sea.
Voted the second Greatest Briton of all time, (after Winston Churchill), Isambard Kingdom Brunel was one of the 19th century’s engineering heroes.
At the SS Great Britain’s launch in 1843 she was by far the largest ship in the world; and the first ever to combine a metal hull and screw propulsion.