Postal Museum, Museum of London and theatre trip

P, E and mysellf enjoyed a wet day in London. First stop was the Postal Museum which was on out bucket list. We did prebook which is recommended, although they say you can turn up on the day and try your luck. 

The Mail Rail Ride was the highlight of our trip. The track was closed in 2003 and has been well preserved and maintained. The carriages originally only carried mail and has since been converted to carry people along a mile stretch along the London network. The underground ride is approximately 15 minutes and to those who are claustrophobic, this might sound like a long time to be cramped in such a small space. But exploring the old tracks and passing through the disused stations was a real thrill and on the way we learned about the journey of a letter from writer to recipient and the history of this special part of our postal heritage via videos projected on to the walls of stations.

We then visited the main part of the museum which is so child friendly! The exhibition covers 500 years of history: everything from the origins of the post, stamps and the mail service, to the two world wars, popular culture influenced by the Royal Mail and quirks like the now forgotten rural post-buses that would deliver people as well letters to their destination.

 As we left the postal museum it began to rain. Then followed the loudest thunder ever and we were left looking like drowned rats!

 We hid from the rain in the free Museum of London. It is one of the world’s biggest urban history museums, and holds over two million objects in its collection and holds the largest archaeological archive in Europe.

 I really enjoyed their exhibition on the suffragettes.I don't think I would have been able to endure what they did.

We then went to the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre to watch their production of Peter Pan - lucky the rain had stopped! We ate from their grill which is cheaper if prebooked! The girls really liked their dinner.

The theatre production itself was fab!

Clivedon and Bombay Sapphire

We had day out for the husband's birthday. First we went to Clivedon. We had a lovely wonder round the gardens, including a trip to the maze and a walk to the Thames!

We then drove on to the Bombay Sapphire distillery which is in Hampshire. It really is in a beautiful spot with the most amazing clear stream running through the mill. We spent about an hour and a half on our self-guided tour with the highlight being the opportunity to smell the various flavours used in  gin production. You received a card with the idea being that when a flavour proved appealing the appropriate number on the card would be punched. Once this exercise was completed the card could then be used to work out our ideal gin cocktail. For the girls and me as as the driver, this was a little pointless but it did tell me which of the two available virgin cocktails I’d like best. It was quite a lot of fun smelling the various flavours, some of which were utterly disgusting.

 After the tour we got a gin cocktail with non-alcoholic options or a take away g and t!

May Day @Kentell Hall

E and I had a day out at Kentwell Hall's May Day celebrations. Kentwell is about 50 minutes from Cambridge. It is a lived in Tudor mansion which has regular Tudor living history events. 

 There were a couple of beautiful peacocks.

 In an outbuilding is a rather fab camera obscura.

 The grounds themselves are just beautiful, and just walking around the place takes a good couple of hours if you're not walking fast to get it done. There are lots of hidden bits to find including a beautiful woodland full of bluebells and a small farm with hens, 2 horses, a donkey and pigs.

 As part of the May Day celebrations were lots of Tudor participants involved in

May Tree Raising, putting on a Mummers Play, dancing around the May Tree, and the Grand Procession around the Estate and in between the grand events were woodworkers and craftsmen including people making pots, a man carving (he made a E a whistle for free) and a candle maker.