Easter at the Heritage Motor Musuem

Finally today I took some time off of work to take the kiddies out somewhere over the Easter holiday. As I frequently visit Gaydon with work to go to Jaguar Land Rover or to Aston Martin I am always passing by the Heritage Motor Museum and never get a chance to take a look inside. I kept on saying that the two boys would love it there and one day I should take them both. Well that day came today and both my little petrol heads had a great time. Its a bit of a long trek for a day out as it takes over 2 hours each way, but well worth it. Over the Easter Holiday the museum are running a Shaun of the Sheep hunt for the kids and also a Lego technix timed race event. So plenty of activities for the kiddies.

 

Joshua and Brandon ready for a family day out. Holly should have been in the baby face but she was asleep.

We let the two boys take their IPADS today for two reasons really. Firstly to keep them entertained on the car journey and secondly to use them as cameras to take pictures of there favourite cars. On this second point Brandon was a man possessed and was pretty much running from one car to the next snapping up picture after picture. 

Brandon taking photos of the cars on his IPAD.

Joshua curious as to why the wing mirrors on this car are so high up.

 nice looking 200mph TVR.

But I'd much rather have the 200mph Aston Martin.

Brandon admiring the James Bond Aston Martin from the film Skyfall.

A true classic. The Delorean from Back to the Future.

Joshua and Brandon searching out clues for the next letter/number in the Shaun of the Sheep code search

One of Jackie Stewarts old racing cars.

Can you spot Joshua at the top of the balcony looking down on some historic land speed record cars.

A pink military vehicle, not sure about that.

Finally a Joshua size car.

And then a Brandon size car with matching full size version for Dad.

Joshua with one of the old Jaguar Formula 1 cars.

Joshua was impressed with the doors and seats on this one of a kind Range Stormer.

For me though I would rather have the Judge Dredd Land Rover Taxi.

Joshua and Brandon trying out and old car for comfort and safety and realising just how much cars have progressed.

Brandon can actually see over the steering wheel!

Anyone for s spot of camping as they boys find another clue for the Shaun of the Sheep search.

I think we must have spent at least an hour in the Leg Technix room building our wind up drag cars to face down the track. The challenge was not so much the speed as we managed to cross the line in 1.78 secs. The challenge was trying to keep the Lego cars running straight!! Brandon somehow managed to make his very back heavy resulting in it simply flipping in the air and spinning. Great fun though. In the end we cheated and built an illegal car using 3 wind up engines instead of 1.

Me and the boys hard at work building our Lego Techniz drag cars.

Brandon looking nervous on the start line as he gets ready to try his car.

The stop watch is ready, in 3, 2, 1 , GO.

Joshua doing a great job of adding more weight to the front of his car to try and keep the wheels on the ground.

Yes this is Brandon standing in a car that has been cut in half. The boys enjoyed learning about the parts of the engine that they could see in detail.

Joshua beats Brandon twice at electronic automotive Top Trumps.

Then taking some chill time to colour in some car pictures to stick on the wall.

Is it home time yet, me, Holly, Brandon and Joshua all ready for a drive in an old classic.

Holly has her first driving licence with Daddy.

Brandon, me, Holly and Joshua in another little car.

Holly getting her second driving lesson from Dad.

"Why do I need to turn that big wheel Dad"? Confused.com!

Me with my lovely kiddies in front of the Shaun of the Sheep Land Rover.

Brandon loved this old Range Rover as he is very keen on the colour brown lately.

Our final activity for the day was for the boys to have 10 laps of off roading experience in the Land Rover experience. They got to drive through some trees, over bridges, up ramps and generally had a good time. Joshua only destroyed one cone whilst Brandon managed to wipe out 4! 

 

 

Joshua sets off for his Land Rover experience.

Brandon lines up his vehicle nicely over the ramps.

Joshua takes a more kamikaze approach and gets the front wheels off the ground.

And then try's to tip the car sideways.

I do believe that front wheel is off the road yet again!

Joshua in hot pursuit of Brandon.

The cars went pretty quick and gave the kids a great little Land Rover experience.

The kids all did great today given that the were stuck in the car for over 5 hours. The journey back started great doing 8-mph all the way down the M40, but then things just went from bad to worse on the M25 and A127 (welcome back to Essex). Poor Holly started getting a bit grumpy towards the end of the trip but she held in there without any stops either way. A great day out and thanks to Gift aid we can go back withing 1 year completely free of charge. Woohoo.