There are hobbies… and then there is steampunk.
Part history, part fantasy, part beautifully organised eccentricity, the Steampunk movement has quietly become one of the UK’s most creative and welcoming communities. Think Victorian invention crossed with science fiction, all held together with brass buttons, clock gears and an admirable refusal to take life too seriously. There are corsets and waistcoats, goggles worn entirely for aesthetic purposes, and enough polished copper to make you wonder whether the nineteenth century might actually have been far more exciting than history suggests.
Steampunk and Fairytale Event, Midland Railway
My latest glimpse into this gloriously imaginative world came during a visit to the Steampunk and Fairytale Event held at the atmospheric Midland Railway, after a short vintage train ride from Butterley to Swanwick. With its preserved steam engines, heritage station buildings and old-world charm, Swanwick already feels slightly suspended in time. Add several hundred steampunk enthusiasts wandering the platforms in velvet coats, lace gloves and mechanical wings, and the entire place begins to resemble a parallel universe where Queen Victoria encouraged recreational inventing.
And then, of course, there was the teapot racing.
Now, if you’re unfamiliar with the concept, you may reasonably assume someone is joking. They are not.
Teapot racing, which originated in New Zealand, has become one of the more delightfully absurd corners of the steampunk world. The rules are wonderfully simple: create a remotely controlled racing machine featuring a teapot — and beyond that, almost anything goes. Some are sleek and surprisingly fast. Others wobble alarmingly around the track as though powered entirely by optimism. There are copper kettles on wheels, flying teapots with tiny propellers, Victorian-inspired contraptions covered in gauges and pipes, and machines that look as though they were invented during an especially chaotic afternoon in someone’s shed.
What makes it so entertaining isn’t just the spectacle itself, but the absolute sincerity with which competitors approach it. Grown adults crouch beside tracks discussing speed, balance and engineering strategy… while steering racing teapots. And honestly, it’s impossible not to love that.
The humour is central to steampunk culture. Beneath the craftsmanship and elaborate costumes is a wonderfully British sense of playfulness. Nobody seems particularly concerned with being cool. Instead, there’s a shared appreciation for creativity, storytelling and the joy of making something purely because it makes people smile.
As a photographer, I find events like this irresistible. Every few steps, there’s another scene demanding to be captured: a gentleman in a top hat featuring a model steam engine, fairy wings beside vintage buses, couples dressed up in matching bee outfits. The details are extraordinary, but so is the atmosphere. People chat easily, admire each other’s creations and fully embrace the idea that imagination should never really be left behind in childhood.
Perhaps that’s the real charm of steampunk. In a world that often feels relentlessly practical, it gives people permission to be inventive, theatrical and just a little bit ridiculous. To spend weeks building a racing teapot simply because they can.
And really, life could use a lot more racing teapots.
