Warwick Castle & Motor Museums with Russell, Brigitte & Netty

 Warwick Castle & Motor Museums 

Excitedly we headed off to the British Car Museum which celebrates British Motoring past and present. We followed the timeline of the development of cars in Britain and the display also showed us what the roads used to be like back it the olden days. We admired the various displays and recognised some of the cars which had been used in the famous films such as Back to the Future and some James Bond films. The 3-wheel yellow Robin Reliant from Only Fools and Horses was on display as was Delboy’s upgraded lime green Ford Capri.

Over at the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust and the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust. we marvelled over some fabulous vehicles including Formula One racing cars which are bigger than they look on tv! There were also a number of cars that had lots of signatures on them, and it turns out that when they stop making a car the last one made gets signed by everyone that worked on it. We saw cars that belonged to the Queen Mother which were then passed onto the collection when she died.

A film told us about the evolution of the Land Rover, and why it’s the Royal Family’s favourite car. 

It was off to Warwick castle, one of the biggest and most complete castles in the country. On arrival we met Queen Elizabeth l and William Shakespeare, before heading off into the castle to look around the state rooms. The first room was the most impressive with two full size knights on horseback in full armour and the walls were covered in weapons. 

Many of the other rooms were set up as a weekend party from the late 1800’s with wax models having a starring role in the party. After this we watched two knights fight out a battle and tell us about their lives in medieval times. Our picnic lunch was enjoyed on the grass in the castle quadrangle.

       

Another brilliant morning was spent at the British Motorcycle Museum, a collection of 850 British made motorbikes dating back to 1889. The collection is divided into 5 halls, each focusing on different makers, and categorised into sections such as road bikes, utility bikes and working bikes (police, ambulance etc). There were even bikes with machine guns and collapsible bikes that could be parachuted into areas of war. At the shop we made friends with two lovely ladies that worked there, and they chatted to us while we ate our lunch from the café, which was super. 

For all of our chocolate lovers amongst the group we headed to the infamous Cadbury World where we were in heaven! The day started well when we were given chocolate bars at the entrance! First, we learnt about the history of how we came to have chocolate as we walked through scenes from South America courtesy of a Spaniard named Cortez. It was fascinating to hear how the Cadbury brothers developed their business from a small shop to a large business known around the world. The brothers were Quakers and they really cared about the work force, so much so that they built a whole village with schools, doctors and dentists for their workers. Along the way we got some tasters of the delicious, melted chocolate which we got to top with a variety of tasty treats. 

An underwater adventure was enjoyed at the National Sealife Centre. Our first encounter was not with a sea creature, but a pirate who told us about our underwater adventure along with a few jokes to boot. The first major exhibit was the penguins, who were with their keepers. One of them was nursing a baby which was so sweet to see. We noticed that the keeper had big coats on as it was cold in their enclosure as it had to be kept at below freezing. An amazing experience was being able to feel some of the baby’s feathers, they were so soft. Next, we headed over to the rock pool area where we were able to touch a star fish which weren’t as rough as we thought they would be. As we walked through the displays, we saw all kinds of fish including Nemo (clownfish) from the film Finding Nemo. Dory was there too! The trip culminated in a walk through the glass tunnel where sharks, rays and fish swam above us. Some of the sharks were over 6 foot tall.

For the rest of the afternoon, we spent at Ash End House Farm where we petted some new born chicks and saw loads of different breads of chickens and ducks. We fed the goats and the sheep with hay that we had bought, and they were certainly pleased to see us. Next, we got to hold Lola the rabbit, but the best animal had to be the shire horse foal called Polo who even though she was only young, she  was still taller than all of us.