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Natural History Museum

The world's finest museum - 55 mins drive away.

Kids love dinosaurs, this seems to be a universal fact among children below a certain age. With that in mind it's a good thing that the best Natural History Museum in the world is so close and free to get in to.
As well as one of the best it's also one of the oldest. It essentially started when a Professor from northern Ireland sold his vast collection of specimens to the British government in 1753, from there they were set up in the South Kensington building you see today and with the Imperial college just a few hundred yards away and all the preeminent botanists and naturalists living or studying in some proximity to this institution, ensured it quickly rose as the go-to place to establish ones research. Thus contributing to its vast collection and making it the must see museum of any visitor to the UK. Most kids who come here do so to see the dinosaur collection which is vast and impressive given how difficult finding grand specimens of fossils is. As you enter the grand hall you are greeted by a complete (or though not totally authentic) diplodocus skeleton, all 105 feet of him, it's sadly a replica but most would never guess this. Up-the stairs behind this structure sits a statue of the great man himself, Sir Charles Darwin. But if you are with the kids then by now they will be pinning to see more dinosaurs so if you are facing "dippy" (as he is called) move to your right and take the second corridor down this side; this will lead you to the dinosaur exhibition and instant gratification from any children you may have with you. As you enter you are confronted by an array of skeletons around and above you, all popular with the kids, a full size real Triceratops, a real Stegosaurus, a T-rex, and several others that appear to be T-Rexs but sadly turn out to be something else and others that you won't know the name of but chances are your children will.
The highlight of this section is of course the full sized rather scary and very very real looking T-rex model, built to perfection, moving, roaring and even able to make eye contact with you. Be advised this will scare the living daylights out of very small children. This part of the museum is done with class, attention to detail and with facts presented with genuine ease of absorption. The mixture of actual fossils, models of skeletons and models of the dinosaurs is just right and if the museum stopped here it would still be a triumph as an educational experience. It does of course move off into 7 other sectors. But that's enough for one week.

Postcode: SW7 5BD
More information: www.nhm.ac.uk


Source: Source: ingrays.com