Possibly Cambridge Museum of Technology is an example of Big Society in action. It’s also the perfect place to spend a few hours on a wet bank holiday afternoon, soaking in the smell of hot metal and grease.
The museum is housed in a Victorian pumping station, staffed by volunteers, and stuffed with beautifully maintained Victorian [...]
Entries Tagged as 'museums'
Cambridge Museum of Technology and Related Stuff
August 29th, 2010 No Comments
Tags: cambridge · cambridgeshire · east anglia · east of england · museums · printmaking · Technology · victorian
Cambridge Espionage
January 24th, 2010 1 Comment
Cambridge University is famously associated with a certain spying scandal, politely referred to as the ‘Cambridge Five’. Perhaps in acknowledgment they’re having an intriguing-looking exhibition at the library of espionage related ephemera from the last 900 years.
“A library might seem a strange place for an exhibition of secret service, given its association with guns, fast [...]
Tags: cambridge · cambridge university · ephemera · espionage · museums
Bending the Line
August 23rd, 2009 No Comments
The Arts Council thinks Sleaford is in the East Midlands, but lets sneak it in here because it’s still in the Fens. Sleaford is home to The Hub National Centre for Design and Craft.
It has an energetic programme of exhibitions, courses and events that aims to encourage appreciation of design, craft and culture, and acts [...]
What to do in East Anglia when it’s wet
August 7th, 2009 No Comments
Call me cynical and depressed about the weather, but I thought a round up of some good places to spend wet afternoons might be a timely and useful thing for a British August. I personally like knocking around big museums when the weather is bad. Coming across beautiful and interesting things is always an antidote [...]
When a monkey is set to diagnose a bear
June 20th, 2009 1 Comment
Who knew that East Anglia was a noted producer of illuminated manuscripts back in the fourteenth century? Some of the best psalters now known of were painted at Gorleston, near Great Yarmouth. One of the most famous, the Macclesfield Psalter, was bought for the nation and is now at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.
There is [...]
Tags: animals dressed up · cambridge · east anglia · fitzwilliam museum · gorleston · illuminated manuscripts · illustration · macclesfield psalter · psalter
Audley End
June 15th, 2009 4 Comments
The house at Audley End is the cut down relic of a much large Jacobean palace, and is surrounded by acres of lavish parkland mostly used these days for picnicing, sunbathing and concerts. Arriving is almost the best part – you stop at the gatehouse and then sweep along the enormous curved drive across the [...]
Tags: audley end · decoration · espalier fruit trees · gardening · greenhouses · historical gardens · historical re-enactment · nineteenth century life · organic garden · organic growing · servants quarters · stately home · victorian
Ipswich Museum
June 8th, 2009 4 Comments
Inching into Ipswich through an endless traffic jam on a wet Wednesday, I never expected to fall in love with it. Too many ugly 1980s buildings, depressing 1970s bungalows and grey drizzle turning everything it touched sticky and sad.
And yet… that’s just the face it shows to casual visitors. As soon as I parked the [...]
Tags: animal bones · ethnography · fish skull · fossils · giant stuffed woolly mammoth · ipswich museum · stuffed animals · victorian curiosities
The Good Life Festival
May 26th, 2009 No Comments
The Museum of East Anglian Life (more on that in a future post) is holding the Good Life Festival on 31st May. Their pitch is “During these times of economic uncertainty, when we are all trying to save money, the Good Life Festival gives us all a chance to find ways to improve our lives [...]
Tags: aspall · cider · education · festival. cider drinking · grow your own · museum of east anglian life · smallholders · suffolk · the good life
Glandford Shell Museum
April 19th, 2009 No Comments
Small but perfectly formed, this one-room museum is a classic Victorian cabinet of scientific curiosities.
Glandford is a tiny Norfolk village not far from Holt that is filled with dutch gabled brick and flint houses, and the museum follows suit. It was built by local landowner Sir Alfred Jodrell and laid out inside by his sisters [...]
Tags: charm · glandford · local history · norfolk · shell museum · shells