Well, I don't know why I've not been before, but we decided to go to Donington Park and have a look at the museum there. Now, in truth, I have been to Donington Park before, once to watch the touring car races, and once to take part in a Race For Life with chums from Hathern Band (yes, there is photographic evidence out there somewhere!), but I've not stopped to look at the cars before.
We were a bit late getting there, and it was a pretty cold day, but that wasn't going to put us off! And I'm glad it didn't, because the museum was absolutely brilliant! If you haven't been, I'd highly recommend it - even if you don't like cars much!
The museum is in a very large warehouse-type building that snakes around, before coming back the same way. This suits me well: I can never seem to look at things to the left and the right at the same time, so it was good to be able to concentrate on one side going out, and the other coming back!
The first gallery was full of German vehicles - motorcycles, cars, tanks and amphibians. Then there were loads of racing cars, areas made up to look like old garages, some very old racing cars, and some quite up-to-date ones. There were also prototypes, a wooden model of a car (which reminded me of father-in-law's joke about the wooden car with the wooden body, the wooden steering wheel and the wooden tyres - which wouldn't go!) and a child's go-kart. Looking out of the windows on the right, was great as each window had a painting of a race-track on it, through which were hints of the grassy banks outside.
Ok, I admit, my account here simply doesn't do the collection justice, so you really must go and look for yourself! My particular favourites were the old green racing cars, and the pale, minty green one that reminded me of Babs. And then there was the cafe: a really lovely, relaxing place, with tables and dining chairs, or squishy leather settees, or high chairs made from old tractor seats. We had a late lunch of ciabatta with bacon, brie and cranberry - delicious and plentiful. Each seating area also had a puzzle on it - a riddle that could be solved: I enjoyed that as it was relevant to my Twitter dementia initiative - #delaytheonsetofdementia
Once we'd finished our very late lunch, and having sat chatting for a while, we decided it was time to go home. The sun was just setting, and the sky was a dazzling orange. Obligingly a bird flew in front of me, just above the sunset, and just as I was taking a photograph!
I did ask, and we were allowed to take pictures inside, so here are a few to whet your appetite (with the usual disclaimer that I'm not good at taking pictures, and these were particularly difficult as there were lots of spotlights around and bright light coming in through the many windows).
See you next week!
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are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit.
The correct citation for this looks as follow:
Dyer, Lynne (2016). Why have I never visited before? [Online] Available from: http://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2017/01/why-have-i-never-visited-before.html [Accessed 8 January 2017]
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