Stadium Tours- Premiership Football Clubs (Southern) with Midi, Netty & Oli

 Stadium Tours- Premiership Football Clubs

We were raring to go and our first stop on our football holiday was at the very impressive Emirates Stadium, home to North London team, Arsenal. 

We browsed the Arsenal museum, taking us back right through the hundred year plus history of the football team, through to the present day. There were so many interesting facts and memorabilia for us to look through.

Our tour guide took us into the fantastic director’s box with incredible views across the stadium. 

We saw the changing rooms, the dugouts, the tunnel and really soaked up the atmosphere of what it might be like to be part of the Arsenal team. 

Our final stop of the day was at the press office, where we pretended to be interviewed by Gary Lineker for Match of the Day! It was a memorable experience. 

We hit the bowling alley for own spot of sporting fun. It was a nail biting game, with plenty of strikes and high scores. It was wonderful to see such great sportsmanship from everyone. 

Stadium number two was the very impressive Tottenham Hotspur. This new stadium is the largest in Europe and the most technologically advanced stadium in the world!

We watched a fantastic, dramatic and very informative short film about the history of Tottenham Hotspur, then our tour began. Once again, we visited the changing rooms where we were able to see some of our favourite players shirts! 

We explored the dugouts, director’s boxes and exclusive lounges. After the tour we decided to visit the Tottenham training grounds. We managed to sneak a peak of the amazing facilities and grounds. 

There was an extra bonus feature of being able to visit all of the changing rooms for the NFL which is the second main use of the stadium. We learnt all about the building and the history of the team from our incredibly friendly and helpful personal tour guide for the day. 

A day was spent being London tourists. We spent some time exploring the famous historical Greenwich University, which dates back to Henry Vlll and walked all the way to the Cutty Sark. Next stop was on the Thames Clipper river cruise which we were all very excited about. It was the best way to take in all the sites. We cruised up the Thames all the way to Battersea Power Station, with views of the Shard, The London Eye, The Houses of Parliament and Canary Wharf. We decided to stop for lunch in a small park with views of Parliament, and enjoyed a picnic out on the grass, in the warm sun. We had been so lucky with the weather! It was a great spot to sit and watch the world go buy with the hustle and bustle of the city in action. We even managed to see a Royal Guard pass us by on horseback. 

After lunch we took a slow walk towards Trafalgar Square, via Downing Street, the Cenotaph and many other important buildings. When we arrived at Trafalgar Square we were greeted with the wonderful views of Nelson's Column and the Shakespeare Fountain. Next, we walked through St James's Park and got an ice cream, sitting in the sun and enjoying the buzz of the park. 

We set off to Stratford and the Olympic Park in London for our final stadium tour. This fantastic stadium is the home of West Ham football club and was originally built for the Olympics in 2012. Our guide for the tour was so knowledgeable and helpful and answered every question we threw at him. 

We were greeted by our guide who showed us around the shop before bringing us through to the players entrance, boxes, changing rooms, dugouts, tunnel. 

It was an amazing experience to be allowed to walk through the players tunnel and we all imagined what it would be like to be greeted to a roar of clapping and chanting from the fans!

As the sun was shining, we took the opportunity to walk along the River Lee across Dobbs Weir and around Nazeing Meads. We took in the views of the quirky narrow boats, looked out for any wildlife on the canal and enjoyed watching people having a go at some water sports on the lake. The rest of the morning was spent at the nearby Lee Valley Animal Park, a lovely, small farm with rabbits, pigs, chickens, cows, donkeys, goats and even some other more exotic animals too like meercats and zebu (also known as a humped cattle). John was particularly excited to see the tortoise- his favourite animal at the park! 

We'd been given an exclusive introductory lesson in rugby, with Hertford rugby club. What a treat! We participated in a great warm-up game and learnt some rugby basics such as throwing, kicking and passing techniques. We then played a short game of touch rugby and everyone really got into the spirit of it. After the match we joined our professional rugby coaches (including a Cypriot national player) in the club house for a good chat and some refreshments.