Normally I don’t like to go crazy with buying jigsaw puzzles, but this hobby has become more and more serious for me. Therefore, can you imagine how I felt when I saw an advert for the largest jigsaw puzzle sales at Erasmus Darwin House (15th March 2023)? I did give it a lot of thought as to whether I should swing by at all as I already have 8 unopened puzzles at home! Since it was the first day of the teachers’ strike, I decided to pop out with my daughter to check it out.
Before I went, I phoned to check if they were taking cash or card. They said they take both. Luckily, I did have cash with me as by the time I was about to pay, the card machine broke. Typical!
I reached the Erasmus Darwin House at around 11.20am and there were a lot of elderly ladies holding stacks of puzzles queuing to pay at the entrance. I did wonder if I was already late to the party! The event had only just started at 11am and so many were leaving with boxes and boxes of puzzles.
Nevertheless, we took the lift to the upper floor instead of walking up a flight of uneven wooden/stone stairs. This is a Grade I listed building. The exit from the lift does not help us at all as we still have to navigate a few uneven stairs down and up into the rooms.
Did you know that Erasmus Darwin House holds a number of objects which belonged to Erasmus and his family? The displays are on loan from organisations such as Lichfield City Council, Stoke on Trent Potteries Museum, Holburne Museum and English Heritage.
Erasmus Darwin FRS was an English physician, natural philosopher, physiologist, slave-trade abolitionist, inventor, and poet living in Lichfield. I’m not very sure when the house was built, but now it is the writer’s house museum commemorating his life. As it was a very old building, it was not easy to navigate around the house, especially for disabled people. They do have some disabled parking behind the building, which is right in front of the Lichfield Cathedral.
Darwin had a famous grandson, Charles Darwin, who was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, known for his contributions to evolutionary biology.
Back to my jigsaw puzzles and luckily there were still stacks of puzzles on the tables. As the saying goes, the early bird catches the worms. I could see a lot of nice puzzles were gone. When I said it was gone, it was in someone else arms or they were standing next to it! I did have a look and bought a total of six 1000 pieces puzzles for £12. There were so many random brands that I’ve not come across before. But, lesson learned. Next time, I shall go early to grab the best bargains.
This lovely Vernazza 1000 pieces landscape collection from King International puzzle only cost me £2! Lovely quality too. What a joy! Took me less than two days to complete. The sales of the puzzles were to fund the museum. I can’t wait to complete them all and donate them back to the museum. Have you visited Erasmus Darwin House before?
This lovely Plitvice Lake, Croatia 1000 pieces landscape collection from King International puzzle. Completed in April 2023.
