Kendal Museum

We hadn't been to our local museum for over a year but as a way of enticing children to walk into town whilst the car was being MoT'd then it worked wonders:

As soon as we walked through the door my children were commenting on the changes! It was a lot more open and seemed lighter and more airy. All the favourite exhibits were still there but also more things were on display. 

Then we went into the basement to see the Seen Through Glass, Darkly art exhibition by David Blyth. It is all based upon taxidermy so not for the fainthearted but there are some beautiful items too:

Easter Family Fun and Fitness

Like many parents I a) have less time to exercise in school holidays and b) worry that my children don't get enough exercise when not in school. So over the start of the holidays I've tried to combine getting/staying fit with some family fun.

First up now I'm running for around 30 minutes non-stop its actually easier to go out with the children. I just need to workout a route that is feasible on their scooters (i.e. not too many road crossings or steep hills) and that has a bribe at the end of it. Luckily Kendal is fairly good for this as we have routes along the river and old canal bed. The bribe at the end was a trip to Abbot Hall park playground. This was the resulting mapped route from MapMyRun:

Yes it was a little bit extra jiggly as I had to retrace my steps a few times to chivvy along a reluctant 6 year old! I also had to run round the park several times at the end to finish the run as my children were about to go on strike so I called a halt to the proceedings for them and sent them to the play area. The run was anything but a steady pace with having to look after the children but my split times weren't bad:

The children enjoyed a good play in the park with a quick picnic whilst I recovered (amazingly its getting easier much quicker!). Then we all needed to warm up so nipped into the cafe at the Abbot Hall Art Gallery (see yesterday's post!). It was then a team decision to cross the courtyard and visit the Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry as we had never been. It cost £5 for me but the children were free so an inexpensive visit. We all enjoyed looking at the recreations of historic shops, industries and homes:

Shoe samples

Victorian Chemists

Bobbin Making from Staveley

16th Century bed

Arthur Ransome's sketches and notebooks

I will have to back sometime on my own as the children didn't let me read a lot of the information as they kept rushing on to the next exciting display!

Afterwards we did some shopping in Kendal (have you ever tried buying gloves in March - apparently its the wrong time of year!). The children had their last Christmas book tokens to spend so we spent forever in Waterstones. A minor miracle occurred as I came out without buying a new book for myself!! I did attempt to run part of the 3 kilometers home but the 6 year old went on strike so I had to content myself with walking.

Today we met up with the extended family and with 3 children and a dog needing some exercise we again mounted up on the scooters (this time I took mine) and headed to the park from my parents' side of town. Once again the old canal path is perfect for this kind of expedition:

It was a bit chilly at the park but the children still had plenty of fun on all the equipment:

We could also just see the Kendal kite festival up at the castle:

And there were plenty of birds enjoying the River Kent:

The scooting looked so much fun that we even persuaded granny to have a go on my scooter:

Then it was a return leg along the canal path and my son spotted this cheeky little thing in the tree:

Later we rewarded ourselves with a yummy Easter tea:

Next challenge is the annual Easter egg hunt at Sizergh but I'll have to get the children to scoot across town first so that I can get in a run!

Manchester Museum of Science and Industry - MOSI

As a family we are big fans of the museum of science and industry in Manchester. I have been going to parts of it for over 30 years but the modern museum of MOSI is so different from the old 1970s and 1980s one.  Yesterday we went as part of a group of northern bloggers to help showcase what the museum has to offer families of all ages. 

There is so much to do and lots of it is interactive and hands on. Can you spot my family up on the screens:

There are lots of different galleries to explore - click on the names to see more about each from the MOSI web site:

• Air and Space Gallery
• Connecting Manchester Gallery
• Electricity Gallery
• Gas Gallery
• Liverpool and Manchester Railway
• The Making of Manchester
• Manchester Science Gallery
• Power Hall
• Revolution Manchester Gallery
• Textiles Gallery
• Underground Manchester Gallery
• Warehouse for the World

I have to admit that there are still parts of the museum we haven't visited which I guess makes a great excuse for going back! I will tell you about which ones we did see this time.

At the weekends one of the most popular activities is taking a ride on a steam train. The site is built on the location of the world's first passenger railway station so its very fitting to take a ride in replica early carriages pulled by a refurbished steam train. Well worth the charge of £2 per adult and £1 per child - do check the timetable before coming to the museum:

It was a chilly but fun ride so do wrap up warm if going on a cold day as the carriages are open. Also be prepared to queue but it was a fun way to see the whole site and get some views of the Manchester skyline as you went.

One of the galleries that grown ups love the most is the Power Hall. This is the one I can remember from my childhood with its noisy working machines. These are all still there either as replicas or ones that have been rescued from elsewhere and they show how steam came to revolutionise industry in the 18th and 19th centuries:

We were lucky to see two live demonstrations through the day with a gentleman acting as James Watt to explain how steam engines worked and how he improved them. Plenty of audience participation. He then had one running to show us exactly how it worked. For the children Forgetful Fireman Fred helped them learn how a steam train worked by encouraging them to correct his mistakes. They all had a good time with this talk and joining in with appropriate sound effects and actions:

Once my son heard about the 4D film Robin Hood he immediately wanted to go so we crossed the site to the 1830 Warehouse to purchase our tickets (£4 and £3). As we had to wait for the film to start there was time to have a look at the historical displays about the history of Manchester from Roman times through to the Industrial Revolution. I didn't get given much time to read the boards but there were plenty of models and artifacts for us all to see:

We all enjoyed the movie which included getting sprayed with water and jolted around to fit with the action! A nice extra treat to add to the day. 

Then we descended into the cellars to see the Underground Manchester exhibition. This fascinated the children as it was all about the history of sanitation and included reconstructions of toilets and sewers (complete with smell!) and interesting facts about sewage and clean water.

My daughter's favourite part of the museum is Experiment! which is hands on science for children (and adults). There was plenty to get them thinking and finding out what happens if I... Its adjacent to the restaurant so with older children you can leave them in there for a while and enjoy a coffee..

The Textiles Gallery celebrates Manchester's history as a cottonopolis. There are machines from all stages of the cotton making process and sometimes they run demos showing them in action (we saw them at Christmas and my children found it too loud!). Having had ancestors in woollen mills in the 19th century it showed me what awful conditions they must have worked in if the noise from these machines was only a fraction of what a proper working mill was like:

Whilst there we also sampled the lunch in the restaurant with nice homemade soup and children's pick and mix lunches. I resisted the fresh baked pizzas but we did return for yummy cakes later in the day..

We will be back there later in the year and I hope to see the parts of the museum I still haven't been too. I do want to spend time in the air and space section as that is the other part I remember from my childhood. It is quite tempting to go back without the children so I can have more time exploring but I know they would be very angry with me if I didn't take them!