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daleks and eagles!
17 April 2011 23:16rather exhausted after a fantastic and varied weekend. I would do a full post now but photbucket is playing silly buggers tonight - full sets of pics are on Facebook for though!
Saturday was spent in London for the Dr Who Experience, which we visited with Gary and Lorena. glad we decided on the early start and book the first slot of the day as the place was relatively empty.
After squeeing over the Ironside, we were ushered into the "experience", a high tech but maybe slightly rushed walk-through show. Highlight of which of course was the daleks! Exiting the tardis, we headed down a dark corridor with dalek sounds approaching, ending up surrounted by three "real" daleks!
after the interactive bit, there was a display of costumes and monsters, where we spent a fair bit of time taking pics.
after the exhibition, we headed to Russell Square/museum area for lunch at Wagamamas before heading our separate directions - Rob and I wanting to do nothing more than crash out in the park for a few hours!
Today, another early start as we headed up the A1 to the Shuttleworth Collection. i had booked for the Birds of Prey experience in the afternoon but had always fancied visiting the planes too, so we made a day of it.
After some confusion at the door, Rob purchased a combo ticket (for the planes, gardens and birds), whilst they kindly let me in for free upon seeing my voucher.
First the Shuttleworth Airplane Collection. 8 hangars of vintage planes, all restored to working condition, along with some cars, bikes and 'plane ephemera. Beautiful to look at (although I would see an entire hangar in the time it took Rob just to look at one engine!) and i would love to go back on an airshow day to see them in flight.
Then a couple of hours was spent exploring and picnicing in the beautiful Swiss Garden. Lots of little bridges, pavilions and a wonderfully gloomy grotto in the centre.
Headed to the Bird of Prey centre early enough to wander around before the experience. Had a slightly bad start when the woman at the gate told us off for buying tickets at the other entrance - and was quite rude when I explained it wasn't clear where we were supposed to go! - after trying to charge Rob an additional £15 spectator fee, she eventually relented and let him in but not without trying to make us feel guilty for it.
Fortunately, that was the only sour note of the day. the rest of the staff were lovely; friendly and enthusiastic about the birds.
For the Experience, we first got to handle a Harris hawk and a Peregrine Falcon, before going to the main arena to watch the flying display. Afterwards we were taken to Owl Wood where they flew several birds to us (a kestrel, a Tawny owl, and the highpoint for me, an Eagle Owl) and the day concluded with a small talk at Eagle Lawn where we got to handle a Chilean Blue eagle - very heavy, absurdly friendly for an eagle and so very beautiful and regal. They kindly also let Rob hold him, despite him only having a spectator ticket.
As a "Group-on" deal, the experience was good value being not much more than the general admission cost (not to mention the fact that I got to see the rest for free too!) however the official "spectator fee" would have been a bit of a cheek, as there was nothing to stop any other member of the public from tagging along to one of the tours. On that basis also, unless a lot more is offered, I would say that their usual price of £78 would be a bit steep for the experience too.
However, it was a fantastic day for me and the one bonus of booking on one of these experiences is that you're guaranteed to hold the birds, as opposed to normal entrance where kids always get priority instead!
Proper photo posts will hopefully follow soon!
Saturday was spent in London for the Dr Who Experience, which we visited with Gary and Lorena. glad we decided on the early start and book the first slot of the day as the place was relatively empty.
After squeeing over the Ironside, we were ushered into the "experience", a high tech but maybe slightly rushed walk-through show. Highlight of which of course was the daleks! Exiting the tardis, we headed down a dark corridor with dalek sounds approaching, ending up surrounted by three "real" daleks!
after the interactive bit, there was a display of costumes and monsters, where we spent a fair bit of time taking pics.
after the exhibition, we headed to Russell Square/museum area for lunch at Wagamamas before heading our separate directions - Rob and I wanting to do nothing more than crash out in the park for a few hours!
Today, another early start as we headed up the A1 to the Shuttleworth Collection. i had booked for the Birds of Prey experience in the afternoon but had always fancied visiting the planes too, so we made a day of it.
After some confusion at the door, Rob purchased a combo ticket (for the planes, gardens and birds), whilst they kindly let me in for free upon seeing my voucher.
First the Shuttleworth Airplane Collection. 8 hangars of vintage planes, all restored to working condition, along with some cars, bikes and 'plane ephemera. Beautiful to look at (although I would see an entire hangar in the time it took Rob just to look at one engine!) and i would love to go back on an airshow day to see them in flight.
Then a couple of hours was spent exploring and picnicing in the beautiful Swiss Garden. Lots of little bridges, pavilions and a wonderfully gloomy grotto in the centre.
Headed to the Bird of Prey centre early enough to wander around before the experience. Had a slightly bad start when the woman at the gate told us off for buying tickets at the other entrance - and was quite rude when I explained it wasn't clear where we were supposed to go! - after trying to charge Rob an additional £15 spectator fee, she eventually relented and let him in but not without trying to make us feel guilty for it.
Fortunately, that was the only sour note of the day. the rest of the staff were lovely; friendly and enthusiastic about the birds.
For the Experience, we first got to handle a Harris hawk and a Peregrine Falcon, before going to the main arena to watch the flying display. Afterwards we were taken to Owl Wood where they flew several birds to us (a kestrel, a Tawny owl, and the highpoint for me, an Eagle Owl) and the day concluded with a small talk at Eagle Lawn where we got to handle a Chilean Blue eagle - very heavy, absurdly friendly for an eagle and so very beautiful and regal. They kindly also let Rob hold him, despite him only having a spectator ticket.
As a "Group-on" deal, the experience was good value being not much more than the general admission cost (not to mention the fact that I got to see the rest for free too!) however the official "spectator fee" would have been a bit of a cheek, as there was nothing to stop any other member of the public from tagging along to one of the tours. On that basis also, unless a lot more is offered, I would say that their usual price of £78 would be a bit steep for the experience too.
However, it was a fantastic day for me and the one bonus of booking on one of these experiences is that you're guaranteed to hold the birds, as opposed to normal entrance where kids always get priority instead!
Proper photo posts will hopefully follow soon!