Surrey

Built in 1907, Brooklands is the birthplace of British Motorsport and Aviation and the home of Concorde. The Brooklands Museum in Weybridge has a range of motoring and aviation exhibits that span racing cars, motorcycles and bicycles through to an unparalleled collection of Hawker and Vickers/BAC-built aircraft. These include the Second World War Wellington Bomber, Viking, Varsity, Visccount, Vanguard, VC10 and BAC One-Eleven.

First up was the motoring village, the highlight of which had to be seeing all the racing cars in all their glory. There’s a lot to see too from The Clubhouse which has displays, exhibits and collections of memorabilia throughout the ground floor to the Era Shed – the workshop and showroom that houses cars such as the Napier-Railton.

How incredible to to see some Formula 1 cars too – not to mention all the memorabilia that goes with them. They look so uncomfortable to drive but awesome too!

Even the pagodas that were built in 1922 and would have supplied the drivers with fuel were cool. After POD refueled herself, we headed off to explore. Having checked out two Hawker Hunters and a Supermarine Swift, we found two old buses before heading into the Wellington Hangar.

The planes were in the most incredible condition given how old they were and it was a fascinating place to be. POD spent a little too much time running around although she’s probably been going stir crazy since her collision with a chair.

It was great to be able to get up close to a Hawker Hurricane in the Wellington Hangar. POD loved sitting in the cockpit and being told what everything did. I’m not sure she understood the comparison to sat nav though given she was recently four! I think Daddy enjoyed sitting in the cockpit as much as POD did. There is much more to see on the aviation front including the AVRO shed with a Roe 1 Biplane, the Barnes Wallis Stratosphere Chamber and the Balloon Hangar.

Brooklands has the only Concorde with public access in South East England. It was the first aircraft ever to carry 100 people at twice the speed of sound and arrived at Brooklands a decade ago after a two-year restoration. You can also do the Concorde experience where you see, hear and feel the plane blast along the runway, soar into the sky and accelerate to Mach 2. We must do this when POD’s a little bigger, it sounds brilliant. For the time being, she was quite happy leaning against the wheels while she ate a cheese roll!

The POD Father took the opportunity to ‘ride’ on the original Brooklands race track through the creation of a 4D theatre in the Vickers Building. Just as John Cobb and Sir Malcolm Cambell did in the 1930’s, he could see, hear, feel and smell what it would have been like.

The London Bus Museum houses a wonderful collection of historic buses, some of which have won awards. The signage is a great reminder of how colourful transport used to be. The signage is great too – no doubt you’ll see some re-appear in the #bwphotoproject! POD was flagging somewhat by the time we reached the buses so our visit there was cut slightly short, a great experience though.

Brooklands Museum is a fantastic place to visit if you’re interested in motorsport or aviation. If POD wasn’t in need of a nap, we could have quite happily stayed longer. Next time we must check out the Test Hill and Track too!

Linking up with #whatsthestory here on PODcast and #CountryKids at CoombeMill.

Welcome to the Doves look back on 2014, kicking off with the first four months. While it may seem odd splitting the year into three parts, little did I know how many photos I’d taken! Or how many poignant moments there were. Or how much POD had grown!

The year kicked off with a visit to Alice Holt, managed by the Forestry Commission, where POD got to test out her scooter for the first time. The experience was short lived but she enjoyed keeping her helmet on while she walked!

We’ve explored many National Trust sites over the past 12 months, January saw us discover Witley and Milford Commons and Bookham Common for the first time.

Other National Trust sites we visited included Clandon Park and Abinger Roughs plus we had our first outing to the wonderful Bocketts Farm too.

Spring seemed to arrive early at Winkworth Arboretum and we saw wild horses at the Devils Punchbowl. There were also a lot of photographs taken of butterflies in the glasshouse at RHS Wisley. Firstly with POD and then with a group of photographers attending an early doors session.

The Sport Relief Team Honk Blogger Relay took place in March. A person to person relay from Lands End to John O’Groats, it was a route of nearly 3,000 miles involving nearly 200 bloggers, their family and friends. The Fleet leg involved @MummyBarrow, @bruceb_uk, @lady_briggs, @navininika, @andywebbdj and @missuswebb.

In Wokingham we were treated to delicious warm bacon rolls, lovingly prepared for us by Suzanne from @3childrenandit. She was part of the group cycling to Reading which also included @gourmetmum, @BelindaAlbasini and @Owen2306. The total money raised by Team Honk for Sport Relief peaked at £31,800 (the target was £20,000).

We also had fun with leaves at Claremont, were surrounded by alpines at RHS Wisley and daffodils at Polesden Lacey. We donned Summer clothes at Sheepleas and in the garden plus we got really lost at the Devil’s Punch Bowl after ignoring the map!

The Dove family headed over to Stratford in the latter part of the month for the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Games. We raised £200 for Sport Relief in addition to our Team Honk efforts.

Having explored Hatchlands Park in early April, we returned when ponies, bluebells and fairies were on the agenda. We also checked out another beautiful National Trust site – Hinton Ampner.

We did an Easter egg hunt round the garden for POD and enjoyed skimming stones over the Bank Holiday. RHS Wisley was high on the agenda too and we spent a glorious day there with @AnnieSpratt and her children.

What a bumper start we had to the year! You’ll find part two here and part three here. Happy New Year everyone!