During the half term, we decided to take the family out to the Natural History Museum in London. Most of the museums in London are free, though they are packed during the school breaks – it’s a good chance to get some learning into the break and have a day out with the kids! Getting to the museum was an easy journey, and though there was a bit of a queue, we lasted it with snacks and went right in. The Natural History Museum is one that could take several days to fully explore, but we spent some time in the Creepy Crawly bit, the Hall of Birds, Evolution of Humans and the Volcano area.
We both really love to visit the various exhibitions at Kew Gardens. After attending their Chihuly exhibition earlier this year, we couldn’t miss their Orchid Festival! The Orchid Festival aims to be an exploration of Indonesia, where there are over 5,000 different orchids – from small little flowers to vibrant, huge bundles. The exhibition is within the Princess of Wales Conservatory on the grounds. The cafe also has a themed menu around the Orchid Festival, and there are a few different Indonesia food carts that we saw dotted around. This event runs until March 8th.
After a quick walk through the park, we arrived at the Princess of Wales Conservatory. From the outside, it looked like a pretty small building, but that was nothing compared to what was within it! The first section took us through a small, almost desert like area that contained a few out coves to take photos at. This was more of an entry hall, that opened up to a much grander main area.
[Ad- gifted experience] The Cecily Beauty and Relaxation spa has been recently refurbished, so both Claire and I were invited to a day out to try out their relaxing services and see the new look. There is a lot to do at this spa from body treatments to lashes, to pedicures, to piercings and spray tans. There are so many ways to indulge in self care and relaxation. Partnered with the Alchemy & i blow dry and bubbles, it’s the perfect place to book a day all about treating yourself.
The Alchemy & i blow dry and bubbles lounge is an area where you can get your hair styled and blow dried, while also sipping on delicious cocktails and bubbly drinks. This is like the ultimate bar for those who want to look fabulous. I didn’t end up getting a blow dry and spent my time in the Cecily spa, but still found this concept to be lovely and will be back to try out this area in the future.
I kept seeing the Artbox Cafe on Instagram – a cafe that serves different desserts, with a different character featured at the cafe for a limited amount of time. When it comes to holidays, the cafe also changes, having special Halloween items and Winter themed desserts. The cafe is split into two floors, the bottom floor is where you can get takeaway ice creams or drinks, as well as purchase a bunch of cute, themed items. As the theme was Pusheen, the items in the bottom floor was all Pusheen; notebooks, books, mugs, jewellery, sushi sets, tumblers, squishes – something for everyone. Upstairs, you can find a small, sit down dining experience where you can order from a slightly larger menu. Dann, Claire (who wrote her own post on this) and I went to the Pusheen x Artbox Cafe in the last week that Pusheen was there!
We are big fans of light based art. Dann loves walking around, Jupiter loves looking at art, so Lightopia seemed like a great event to attend, especially after the amount of fun we had at Chihuly exhibition and the Ashford Illuminations. Lightopia takes place each year at the Chiswick House in London, as well as several other locations around England. This year, this is running from January 22nd until March 1st, giving everyone plenty of time to stop by!
We went to Lightopia with Claire (who wrote up her own review) and Staurt as a double date. We all purchased tickets a while back, and they were a bit strange to purchase. The tickets themselves have the same opening time, but you’ll end up needing to pick a preferred arrival time, which doesn’t actually get placed on your ticket. We didn’t get the email stating our preferred time, so we went at opening, which was listed on our ticket. We were still let in and nobody pointed out that we were an hour early. Anyway, onto the exhibition.
Before you even make it to ticket check, you’ll walk down a large path of flowers and numbers, making your way closer and closer to the exhibition. Once we got through tickets, we started down the path. Like the Chihuly exhibitions, lights dotted the path moving you from each major point to another. There was a lot to see, but surprisingly, there were also a lot of interactive areas designed for children and adults alike. Everything also had music, with quite a few exhibitions that actually were timed to the music that was playing. The flowers, butterflies, humans, all looked like they were made of wire and tissue paper, but clearly it was made of fabric which had lights under it. A few exhibitions stood out above the others.
