Chelsea Physic Garden, Body Worlds and Mr Gum and the dancing bear.

We visited Chelsea Physic Garden, a short walk from Sloane Square tube station. You enter by an assuming entrance - 4 acres surrounded by high brick walls. It is a remarkable garden originally created in 1673 by the Apothecaries in which to grow medicinal plants. It’s a living, breathing museum, complete with labels and educational messaging next to every ‘exhibit’. If you want to know where aspirin comes from, you can actually see and touch the plant right here. We just enjoyed wondering round. P did the children's trial which she liked!

 We then went for a wonder round Battersea Park...

 ...and a snack in the park.

 We the took the tube to Piccadilly where we went to Body Worlds, a new permanent museum taking the place of Ripley’s Believe it or Not. Body Worlds is a museum made up of real, plastinated people and is unlike any museum or exhibit you’ll have ever seen. preserved human bodies used in 200 exhibits across 6 galleries giving a thought provoking, educational insight into our reproductive, respiratory, cardiovascular and metabolic systems. All exhibits are fascinating and strangely beautiful! It is worth noting there is a cloakroom before you enter the museum as you are only allowed a small bag for your journey round. There is also lift access and stair access on each floor as well. You get an audio guide which tells you about the different exhibits. 

We then walked over the river to the National Theatre.

 We went to see Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear in which Andy Stanton has adapted his own crazy but kind children's book about the unlikely friendship between feisty nine-year-old Polly and the giant bear she rescues from a miserable life of humiliation, and peppers it with bouncy songs by Jim Fortune. From what I remember it seems quite faithful to the book with shouts of, "The truth is a lemon meringue." It is suitably bonkers and we loved it! 

Day 24 - The Wizard of Oz @REP Birmingham

We have totally loved every show we have been to see at The Rep and the Wizard of Oz was no exception.
When we arrived there was some lively skiff music playing by members of the cast against a background of corrugated iron. This really set the scene perfectly. When the play started, we were instantly transported to the farm in Kansas where the farm hands relax between shifts. The simple set of the farm building both inside and out felt so real that it made the whole story.The story starts with Toto being a real dog and when the play moves to Oz he turns into a puppet - P hadn't noticed this till the end when she said "Oh there were 2 totos!".
The Munchkins provide a hilarious welcome to Oz. They manged to be both funny and creepy, setting the tone for the rest of the story. Oz is a magical land full of vivid colour, towering plants and trees, and eerie animals and otherworldly creatures. The ensemble works so hard to bring it to life and it feels like you have been transported into another world.

The thing which made the play so innovative and fresh was the stagecraft and use of the set. The journey to Oz on the yellow brick road is told through a variety of props including yellow steps and chairs which give a feeling of movement along with the stage floor which is a giant turntable. Oz itself has some visual gags, green billboards with Oz puns in them and Dorothy and her companions getting an Oz makeover complete with traditional Dorothy costume. The Wicked Witch of the West was truly terrifying and P had her hands over her eyes for some of it!

I am looking forward to next's years Christmas show already!

Day 20 - Wilton's box of delights

Like so many people, I totally love the Box of Delights BBC television series which I try and watch each advent! As soon as I saw that there was a theatre show of this, one of my favourite books, I tried to book tickets! Sadly I failed last year but was one it as soon as they came on sale this year!

So tonight P, E and myself took the train down to the beautiful Wilton’s Music Hall. The theatre whole-heartedly embodies the show, such offering lemon posset ice cream which is referenced several times throughout the story, although P was not impressed! The programme is a fully detailed newspaper, ‘The Tatchester Times’ which includes games and ‘news items’.

I thought it was cleverly done with a small cast that do a lot of doubling up and make each person unique.  The staging was simple but for the most part effective. There were some lovely, imaginative scenes, like when the old man opens the Box of Delights and we see a golden, be-jewelled phoenix flying around the stage before it smolders in its own embers.
However, if you are not familiar with the story I thought it could be confusing with the the parallel story lines, time travel, and the cast playing multiple characters.

Day 5 - The Snowman

The girls enjoyed a snowman biscuit from Biscuiteers which they all thought was delicious but not worth the money.

Then E, P and myself went to London after school to watch the rather lovely Snowman Ballet. The first half is the best, closely following the animated version, with the flying scene magically. P was delighted to see Father Christmas in the second half!

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!

IWM London + the School of Rock

Today we spent three hours at the Imperial War Museum, London which is a free museum to visit.

 I loved the fact it had part of Berlin Wall outside!

The highlight of the trip was the 1st WW exhibition. The display meanders through uniform, cinema footage of munitions workers through to a trench with tank in it along with lots of interactive exhibits that kept the girls interested. It covers everything from the early recruiting posters and queues of happy young men eager to sign up, to the military tactics and medals given out to the dead. There are plenty of weapons and uniforms on show, and personal mementos from the soldiers. A lot of the exhibits are very imaginatively displayed and it brought home how horrendous it must have been. To be honest, I could have spent longer there!

We also spent some time in the smaller World War 2 exhibition which was full of interesting artifacts, including this boat used the Dunkirk evacuations.

We also enjoyed the Family in Wartime exhibition which explored the life of the Allpress family during the Second World War. As well as reading and listening to audio clips about how their lives were affected there was a model of their home and an Anderson shelter. I enjoyed seeing this letter from an evacuee, particularly the postscripts. I could imagine writing them myself as a child!

       

We didn't visit the Holocaust exhibition as the IWM recommends no children under 14 visit - something to go back to with I on her own! We also visited the cafe which had some very expensive and not not so child friendly cakes!

We then went to the School of Rock, an Andrew Lloyd Webber version of the 2003 Jack Black-starring film. The best moment of the show comes when the children rock out properly at the contest - playing their own instruments!

December 24th - Decorate the tree

Frazz was guarding our Christmas Eve box - sadly I forgot to take a photo of the inside, but it contained a decoration for the tree, kits to make candy cane reindeer (2 canes, a brown pipe cleaner, a red pompom and 2 googly eyes) and chocolate snowballs!

 

The girls decorated the Christmas tree

 and then we, Mum, me, I, G and E, went to see Treasure Island at the rep theatre. I though it a clever retelling of the story where Jim and the doctor were both played by women!

 We read

Paradise wildlife park / Gangsta Granny

This afternoon we visited Paradise wildlife park which is about an hour's drive from Cambridge.It is an award winning, family run Wildlife Park set in the beautiful surroundings of Broxbourne Woods in the Hertfordshire Countryside.

We enjoyed our day at Paradise Wildlife Park and although we liked how close up we were to the animals we felt some of them were stressed! There is a wide range of different animals including lots of different big cats! There is also a lovely play area with slides and bouncy castles and a woodland train (which costs extra to ride). We took a picnic with us and there are plenty of benches around the park to eat on. We were there for about four hour and a half hours
 

We then drove back in time to see Gangsta Granny, an adaptation of the  David Walliams' book. The girls loved all the glorious slapstick humour, farting and talk of bottoms and poo. It looks great too with the scenery changed by ballroom dancing policemen and gyrating lollipop ladies.