A Day Out at Brooklands Motor Museum

Sudden realisation that there are not many days of the summer holiday left spurred us into taking another day out, but fed up of the crowds at other attractions, we decided to head to Brooklands Motor Museum. We were there early but they let us in before the official opening time - a refreshing change from various theme parks which make you wait behind barriers until a couple of minutes after the official opening time, and an indication of the fantastic customer service we received from paid staff and volunteers alike.

With two children under 5 and a two for one adult ticket, (courtesy of our membership card for Painshill park), the entry cost us £11 (for one adult); bargain! We headed straight for the racing cars where the children were able to sit in a real racing car, and then the adults took turns in the driving simulator. No queues! It didn't go down too well when I beat hubby's time by 2 seconds! Apparently he had his foot on the brake.....

We then went to the discovery centre for children, and although this could do with a little attention the children enjoyed some hands on experiments. They loved winding the lever to make enough energy to power Toby the train around a track, and standing on a bridge they built out of wooden blocks. Experiments with telephones were some of the most popular, and although at 2 and 4 they weren't much interested in the theory, they enjoyed having a go.

I've seen some of these displays elsewhere but the children never seem to tire of seeing a ball sitting on top of an air plume.

The children wanted to see some planes so we investigated the aircraft hanger. They had replicas of very early planes, and the children were able to sit in the cockpit of a jump-jet.

The four year old then interrogated one of the volunteers about bouncing bombs and whether they were dropped on the heads of goodies or baddies...it later prompted a whole afternoon in the garden bouncing wet tennis balls up the path.

Throughout the holidays they have classic car rides on part of the original race track, the worlds first purpose built racing track. It took our breath away to drive so fast (we later found out it was about 40mph) at a huge angle. The eldest drew parallels to the Disney Cars when Doc Hudson puts on his racing wheels and races around the track and bank. Very happy boys; "again again" is all I could hear them shouting. These rides are just a £1 each on top of the entry fee.

We decided against the Concorde experience, but they loved looking at the plane with the pointy nose. They had great fun looking over the various planes, they've never flown, partly due to the eldest son's medical problems. All the planes had helpful volunteers to explain the details. The children loved seeing pictures of how Freddy Laker used to take his Rolls Royce on his plane!

The London Bus Museum was a complete bonus. It has recently moved there and has not officially been opened yet.

Starting with horse drawn buses it has models right up to more recent times. The great excitement was seeing a 1953 bus from the very route my mother and uncle used to take to school; between Aylesbury via Tring and onto Hemel Hempstead. As a 1953 bus it would have been in service exactly when they were travelling to school on a daily basis, and in all liklihood she travelled on that very bus. Later, she was able to recall the number of the bus (301) without me showing her the photo. She is very excited and desperate to ride on it, she can remember the noise it made up and down the hills. We wished we'd known they had this but before she hired an ordinary Routemaster bus just weeks ago to celebrate her 70th birthday. Hey ho!

The final wonderful new addition for us was the soft play area in the cafe. It's large and safe and allowed the children to really let off steam whilst we were able to supervise them and enjoy a great lunch followed by cake! My one disappointment in the whole place was the absence of tea spoons! Dessert spoons are a bit tricky for a two year old to feed themselves, I've never before been to a restaurant which cannot find a tea spoon! Still, if that's the only criticism it all adds up to a great day out!