WITH autumn fast approaching, Hollycombe Steam in the Country is staging its popular fairground at night Saturday evening openings.

Visitors can enjoy a trip down memory lane with the sights, sounds, smells and atmosphere of a vintage Edwardian fairground at night.

The evenings offer a nostalgic look at how the Victorians and Edwardians used steam as an instrument of work and play, and features a number of popular fairground sideshows of the period.

There will be rides such as the razzle dazzle, which is considered to be the world’s first white knuckle ride, the gallopers and the big wheel, which offers evening views over the South Downs.

Visitors can sit back and relax in the bioscope – a precursor to the modern cinema – typical of the travelling shows which first brought film to the public, or reflect on themselves with a walk through an original hall of mirrors. Hollycombe’s haunted house – the oldest in the world – will also be open for evening visits following extensive restoration.

Hollycombe trustee Brian Gooding said: “Everyone loves Fairground at Night.

“The atmosphere created by the lights, sounds and steam is unique to Hollycombe – our rides are operated by volunteers and these evenings always prove most popular.

“Warming refreshments are available too.”

Fairground at Night evenings take place on September 22, September 29, October 6, October 13 and October 20, and the last evening has a Hallowe’en theme, when the quarry railway is also planned to be open.

On October 13 and 20 a free minibus shuttle service is planned to operate between Hollycombe, Liphook railway station and Liphook Sainsbury’s, courtesy of the East Hampshire Community Rail Partnership.