A Sunny Day in London

Today may be the only day of the English summer, and we had planned to spend it in London.  After a leisurely breakfast we decided to walk down to the station so that we could at least admire the bluebells on the way. 

Buckinghamshire bluebells

Arriving in London at 11.00 a.m. our first stop was the National Portrait Gallery to see the Russia and the Arts exhibition.  This was excellent. It's on until 26 June 2016 - see it if you can. Entry is £6.00, but Art Pass holders get in at half price.

In 1856 Pavel Tretyakov began to collect Russian art. By the time he donated his collection to the city of Moscow in 1892, there were almost 2,000 works, which formed the core of the State Tretyakov Gallery. 

The works are a survey of the golden age of Russian portraiture from Realist to Impressionist.  The exhibition starts with a portrait of Tretyakov, painted by Repin in 1901, three years after his death, but the subjects of the other portraits in the exhibition are writers, artists, composers and patrons. Particular highlights for me were a painting of Vladimir Dal, with really haunting eyes by Perov (1872),  and one of Mussorgsky by Repin (1881).  At first glance I thought the latter looked like like Oliver Reed after a heavy night. It was actually painted in hospital a few days before the composer’s death from alcoholism.

Our next stop was rather less highbrow - the Cartoon Museum in Little Russell Street, to see a small exhibition of artwork of covers from Target novelisations of classic Doctor Who stories. The daughter of one of the artists used to work for me (something I only found out after she had been working for me for quite a long time). We also had a look around the graphic novel exhibition downstairs.  Our Art Passes came in handy again, as we got in free.

After lunch at nearby Tas in Bloomsbury Street (I don't know why Turkish restaurants are not more popular - the food is superb), we headed to our final stop of the day, the British Museum for the Sicily: Culture and Conquest exhibition. Here I flashed my British Museum Friends card for free admission. 

This very well-presented exhibition shows how the different peoples who conquered and settled on the island: Greeks, Phoenicians, Romans, Goths, Byzantines, Arabs and Normans added to the richness of its unique cultural identity.

Three exhibitions in a day is about as much cultural stimulation as I can handle, and it was getting quite hot in the city so we set off for home.  If I had been staying in London, it would definitely have been time for tea in a park.

 

Making the most of our membership

Shakespeare's Birthplace - we used our Art Passes for free entry

A while ago I wrote about how we managed to get good use out of our various heritage membership passes on our summer holiday last year.

Yesterday I thought it would be interesting to see how many times I had used all my various membership cards in 2015.

The joint 'winners' were the National Trust and the Art Pass, with 10 uses each, closely followed by English Heritage with 9 (though several of those were not for English Heritage properties as such, but a reciprocal arrangement with Manx Heritage).  The Historic Houses Association came fourth with 6. They have definitely all paid for themselves.

I only used my British Museum Friends card for a discount in their restaurant (but it was a very nice meal). I'll try to fix that this year, with a visit to the Sicily: culture and conquest exhibition.

The results in detail:

Art Pass (note that the Art Pass gives either free entry or reduced-price admission)

British Library Magna Carta exhibition

Courtauld Gallery

Dulwich Picture Gallery  Escher Exhibition

Harvard House

Leighton House

National Portrait Gallery William Morris Anarchy and Beauty exhibition

Shakespeare's Birthplace

Torquay Museum

Torre Abbey

National Trust

A La Ronde

Cliveden

Coleton Fishacre

Coughton Court

Great Chalfield Manor

Greenway

Hughenden Manor

Overbecks

Red House

Wordsworth House English Heritage Berry Pomeroy Castle Castle Rushen Eltham Palace House of Mannanan Kenilworth Castle Laxey Wheel Peel Castle Rushen Abbey Totnes Castle Historic Houses Association Cadhay Helmingham Milntown Mirehouse Powderham Castle Stratfield Saye

Free Entry

Unusually, this  year we have spent our main holiday in the UK, driving down to Devon to be precise. Whilst the weather may not have been perfect every day, one bonus was that it gave us an opportunity to make good use of our various memberships.

Powderham Castle 

We have membership cards for the National Trust, EnglishHeritage, the Historic Houses Association Friends scheme, the Royal Horticultural Society, the British Museum Friends scheme, the Royal Shakespeare Company and a National Art Pass.  Sometimes places we visit are in more than one scheme so there is a shuffling of cards at the entrance as we try to work out which card gives us the best deal. 

In a 9 day holiday in Devon we visited seven historic houses, two ruined castles, two museums (one of them twice), two zoos, a model village and some caves. Of these, we had free entry to the all the houses, the castles and the museums. Our National Trust (NT), English Heritage (EH), Historic Houses Association (HHA) and Art Pass  (AP) cards all came into their own.

Garden At Overbeck's

Great Chalfield Manor

Historic Houses

Great Chalfield Manor (NT) 

Greenway (NT)

Coleton Fishacre (NT)

Overbeck’s (NT)

A La Ronde (NT)

Powderham Castle (HHA)

Cadhay (HHA)

Castles

Berry Pomeroy Castle (EH)

Totnes Castle (EH)

Museums

Torquay Museum (AP)

Torre Abbey (AP)

Torre Abbey

Totnes Castle

A La Ronde

Greenway

Sci-Fi Exhibition, Torquay Museum

Coleton Fishacre

This is a win-win situation. The organisations benefit from our membership subscription and feel good about helping a good cause, we get free entry to lots of interesting places, and we can spend the money we save on admission in the tea room and shop.

A more detailed account of the trip can be found on the TravelSIG blog here.