The Brunel Museum

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you might remember me mentioning the wonderfulness that is the National Art Pass.

"The National Art Pass gives you free entry to over 225 museums, galleries and historic houses across the UK as well as half price entry to the major new exhibitions." It's great!

It's saved me loads of money on my Nice Days Out and led to me visiting dozens of interesting places I'd otherwise never have visited, and many I'd otherwise never have even heard of.

One of my recent "places I visited because it's free with my Art Pass but it turned out to be awesome, you should totally go whether you have an Art Pass or not"... is the Brunel Museum in Rotherhithe.

 

The museum is housed in an old engine house. It's petite but interesting, telling the story of engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel's first and last projects - the Thames Tunnel (the brainchild of his father, Marc Brunel) and the iron steam sailing ship Great Eastern.

The story of the Thames Tunnel is one I didn't know before. It was an amazing feat of engineering but the work was long, difficult and dangerous and overran by 15 years - and Isambard nearly drowned in the process!

Outside the museum, there's a small paved area with benches shaped like Brunel's bridges (including the railway bridge at Maidenhead).

There's also a gorgeous little garden (which is free to visit).

You go up a narrow set of steps...

 

... and wow, what a riot of colour and scent!

During the summer the garden is host to campfire cocktail evenings which sound kind of amazing.

This isn't just a pretty garden though - it's built on top of the shaft sunk by Marc Brunel so he could begin digging the Thames Tunnel. Part of the shaft is still visible above ground, and has been decorated with a mural based on a watercolour sketch done by Marc Brunel showing his plan for the tunnel.

When you visit the museum, you can actually go down into the shaft itself (accompanied by a guide, of course!) and stand in the space where the tunnel building began, where millions of visitors paid a penny to walk through the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’ and where Isambard Kingdom Brunel was rescued after nearly drowning. 

This was quite a spooky space to be in! I've never been anywhere quite like it. 

Hurrah for the Art Pass and hurrah for small museums!

Click here for more info about the Brunel Museum and the history of the Thames Tunnel.

A Summer Flashback: Visiting Osterley Park

Right at the end of summer (in the middle of that heatwave we had at the start of September, which I am totally counting as summer because it was craaaaazy hot) I headed to West London for a Nice Day Out at Osterley Park.

Osterley Park itself is free to visit, but within the grounds you'll find Osterley House and its gardens which are run by the National Trust and have an entrance fee.

I got to the Park nice and early, walking up the long drive towards the house...

... past the Garden Lake...

 

... to the house itself. Pretty fancy, huh?

 

 

The ceiling of the portico is a teaser for the intricately decorated interior of the house.

There are some really fabulous spaces to explore here (several of which you might recognise from the movie The Dark Knight Rises, in which Osterley House starred as Wayne Manor) - just look at the entrance hall!

I happened to be reading this pattern-filled issue of UPPERCASE magazine on the train that day, which turned out to be the perfect reading material for a Nice Day Out spent oohing over patterns and repeated motifs and design details.

I spent ages looking round the house and its pretty gardens, and wandering round the park eating an icecream or two (on a hot day like that one was you definitely have to have icecream breaks instead of tea and cake breaks!). 

I have to admit that I'd never even heard of Osterley before buying my Art Pass but I'm so glad to have discovered it, it's a gorgeous place and well worth a visit. I highly recommend the introductory talk (available on the hour) - this was very entertaining and a great introduction to the house and its colourful history.

Even if you just visit the park and don't venture inside the house, you can take a peek inside the stable block...

... where there's also a nice cafe and a little shop selling second hand books and plants from the gardens.

On the drive out of the park you'll also find a farm shop. I bought a selection of veggies for dinner, including this rather fabulous Romanesco broccoli (featuring yet more patterns!).

I'd never tried one of these before and couldn't resist treating myself to this one simply because of how gorgeous it was. I'm pleased to report that they're very tasty!

More Sheep! Plus a Visit to Carlyle's House

After my fun day following the Shaun in the City art trail, when I came to plan my next Nice Day Out I knew I wanted to fit in some more sheep-spotting!

So, I looked at my much-scribbled-on trail map, a tube map, and my looooooong list of "things it would be awesome to go and see in London sometime" and hopped on a train.

My first Shaun sculpture of the day (Lambmark Larry) was an easy one to tick off the trail map, as it's located on one of the platforms at Paddington station.... which just happens to be the last stop on my train into the city. Hurrah!

 

 

Next up was Paddington Shaun, which wasn't in the station itself but nearby at Paddington Basin - somewhere I'd never visited before. It had just started to rain, so my next few photos were taken from under my umbrella...

 

 

I loved the details on this one!

 

On the way back to Paddington station, I turned a corner and found myself in front of the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital, where people were camping out in anticipation of the new royal baby's birth. I'd just been reading about them in the paper that morning, so it felt slightly surreal to stumble upon them (and lots of people from the press doing interviews).

 

Continuing with the royal theme, my next stop was St James's Park (near Buckingham Palace).

This was not the best time to be strolling around a park, as it was absolutely chucking it down with rain at this point and getting pretty windy, too. Brr.

I paused to ooh over this border filled with tulips (an absolute riot of colour, so beautiful)...

... then headed off to the end of the park where my map suggested the Shaun sculpture was located. I found Happy & Glorious eventually, quickly snapped some photos then headed back to the Tube as quickly as I could to get out of the rain. 

 

After spotting 27 sheep last time, these three brought my total up to a nice round 30. There're 20 more still to go, but the rest would have to wait as I had other stuff I wanted to visit.

The next stop on my "to see" list for the day was Carlyle's House, one of the National Trust properties that you can visit for free with an Art Pass. To get there, my plan was to get the Tube to Sloane Square and walk along the King's Road. I did do that, but I took an unplanned detour along the way: a visit to the Saatchi Gallery.

 

I'd never been to the Saatchi Gallery before as contemporary art is not usually my cup of tea, but I decided that it was silly to just walk straight past without taking a quick look round as it's free to visit... and I'm really glad I did. I happened to catch the Hermès Wanderland exhibition just before it ended, which turned out to be completely enchanting - a magical, Alice-in-Wonderland-like stroll through a series of delightfully surreal sets. I came out of the exhibition with a huge grin on my face and a spring in my step.

After my detour, my walk continued: passing lots of interesting buildings along the way, including Turner's studios.

 

 

Carlyle's House is tucked away in a quiet little street, and not signposted from the main road. This makes it a teeny bit hard to find (definitely take a map if you visit!) but adds to the feeling that this is a hidden gem, away from the hustle and bustle of London. 

This is one of those places that I would never have heard of, let alone visited, without my Art Pass. I've never read anything by Thomas Carlyle and didn't know much about him before my visit, but I found this a hugely enjoyable place to explore.

It was fascinating to learn about all the famous Victorian writers who were friends with the Carlyles and visited them in this house, and the volunteer guides were friendly and helpful, pointing out lots of interesting objects. The house became a place of literary pilgrimage shortly after Carlyle's death, with most of the contents preserved so there's lots to see in each room.

I also loved reading the extracts from Jane Carlyle's letters - she was hilarious! There's even a Twitter account devoted to her & her husband's letters. I am definitely adding a book of her selected letters to my reading list.

After I'd finished looking round Carlyle's House, there was just time for one more stop: a trip to the Natural History Museum to visit their Coral Reefs exhibition (half price with my Art Pass - woohoo!). This was utterly fascinating - coral is weird and amazing stuff.

 

Finally, I called in at the museum's gift shop before heading home and had a delightful surprise as I spotted a copy of my book, Super-Cute Felt Animals, on sale!

One of my books on sale in the bookshop at one of my all time favourite museums / places in London??? So exciting. I may have let out a small "eeep!" noise in the shop :)

How I Saved Over £200 with an Art Pass

Back in 2013 I decided to start taking regular Nice Days Out - to take a break from my deadlines and my seemingly endless To Do list and to schedule some proper days off. This turned out to be one of the best decisions I've made in years!

Unfortunately, Going Places and Doing Things costs money so I was delighted when I discovered the National Art Pass...

My Art Pass

I was "looking at the website for a local museum when I noticed a bit of small print saying people with a mysterious thing called a "National Art Pass" got free admission. "I wonder what that is?" I thought, and Googled it. It turns out the National Art Pass is a great scheme run by the Art Fund that gives you free entry to lots of museums, galleries and historic houses across the country plus money off lots of exhibitions. Cool huh?

You buy an annual membership, and then you can use your pass as much as you like during the year. Since I'm going on lots of day trips at the moment I decided to treat myself to a membership, and my Art Pass arrived last week." 

I wanted to make the most of my year's membership so I set myself the challenge of seeing how many places I could visit in the year and how much money I could save. As well as blogging about my trips throughout the year I kept a nerdy list recording all the places I'd visited and tallying how much I was saving. It was great to see the money I was saving but I also found my "challenge" was great motivation to get out and see lots of new things and explore lots of new places.

During my year's Art Fund membership (autumn 2013 to autumn 2014) I used my Art Pass to visit almost 20 galleries, museums and historic houses and over a dozen exhibitions. It was a very fun year!

The Charles Dickens Museum

I got free entry to: the Courtauld Gallery, the Household Cavalry Museum, the River & Rowing Museum, the Cartoon Museum, the Charles Dickens Museum, the Foundling Museum (twice), the Jewish Museum, the Fashion Museum & Assembly Rooms, No.1 Royal Crescent, Kensington Palace (twice)...

Gardens at Kensington Palace

... Leighton House Museum, Dulwich Picture Gallery, the aquarium at the Horniman Museum, the Handel House Museum, the Guards Museum, Apsley House, Time Machine at the Manchester Art Gallery, Shakespeare's Family Homes, two exhibitions at the Mall Galleries, and the Mary Rose Museum.

Apsley House

And discounted entry to: Elizabeth I & Her People at the National Portrait Gallery, Facing the Modern at the National Gallery, Artist Textiles at the Fashion & Textile Museum, the Taylor Wessing Photographic Prize at the National Portrait Gallery, The Cheapside Hoard at the Museum of London, Pearls at the V & A, Strange Beauty at the National Gallery, Richard Deacon at Tate Britain, the Estorick Collection, Making Colour at the National Gallery, Dorney Court and Matisse at the Tate Modern.

The National Portrait Gallery

(N.B. some of these discounts may no longer be running, you can check the Art Fund's website for all their current offers)

My first year's membership cost me £39.75 (you can see the current prices here) and saved me a massive £254.55 (£57.65 of discounts and £196.90 free entry), or £214.80 when you take away the cost of the membership. Not half bad!

The Fashion & Textile Museum

The Art Pass has helped me save money on places and exhibitions I'd been planning on visiting anyway, and made others affordable for my budget when I might otherwise have said "How Much???" and sadly given them a miss.

I've also visited so many small, quirky, delightful museums and other attractions that would have never even been on my radar. And travelling to all these different places have taken me to places I'd otherwise never have visited, like Stratford-Upon-Avon, Portsmouth, and new-to-me bits of London.

Stratford-Upon-Avon

With plenty more places still to visit I have, of course, renewed my membership for another year :)

Knitting, Drawing, Sewing, Watching, Reading & Planning

At the moment I am mostly working on my accounts and tax return. Fun times!

When I've not been surrounded by spreadsheets and piles of receipts I've been...

... relaxing with some simple blanket-square knitting and lots of dot-to-dot drawings (soooo absorbing).

... working on a secret stitchy project while binge-watching lots and lots of episodes of Supernatural.

 

... curling up with one of my Christmas-gifts-to-myself, Anne Helen Petersen's fascinating and hugely entertaining book Scandals of Classic Hollywood (heads up: that's an affiliate link), which is making me want to watch approx a gazillion old black and white movies.

... and making plans for some more Nice Days Out.

There are soooo many places I want to go and things I want to see this year, it's quite hard to choose where to visit next! I will definitely be visiting lots of places I can get a discount with my Art Pass - it saved me so much money on entry and exhibition tickets last year, I'm determined to use it lots this year too and make the most of my membership.