Family day out at the Imperial War Museum Summer Air Show at Duxford

We were provided with press tickets to the Imperial War Museum Summer Air Show at Duxford for this post however all opinions are my own.

We don’t need asking twice if we would like to visit the Imperial War Museum Duxford, especially when there’s an air show on!

Our son, Jacob, 11, is aircraft obsessed! Having a particular love of Spitfires.

The Imperial War Museum Duxford is a truly spectacular place even when there isn’t an air show on. It is Europe’s largest air museum and there is so much to see.

A great place to spend a family day out.

Jacob got a good look at the British Aircraft Corporation Strikemaster pair

Situated in Cambridgeshire, just off the M11, it is accessible by car, bus, train or by air!

This historic site includes a vast range of enormous hangars, gigantic aircraft, a live airfield and a wide collection of personal stories of those who have lived, fought and died in conflict from the First World War to the present day.

IWM Duxford also served as a base for many of the Spitfire and Hurricane pilots during the Second World War.

Jacob loved listening to the engineer talk about the Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-15UTI. It has a max speed of 652 mph! Wow!

We are lucky enough to be visiting IWM Duxford on the second day of the Summer Air Show.

This is the third time we have visited now, and we still haven’t seen everything IWM Duxford has to offer.

Jacob was lucky enough to say hello to this brilliant re-enactment group at IWM Duxford Summer Air Show.

Getting there early is a must for us. We like to do the Flightline Walk which is open to the public before the air displays commence and you get a great, up close look at the aircraft taking part in the show. I definitely recommend doing this.

We really enjoyed the air display of the Calidus Autogyro by the Gyro Air Displays. Amazing that the aircraft has to be moving forward for the rota blades to move as they are free spinning.

Image: IWM Duxford

As we got there early, we had time to see the amazing sites on offer. This list of aircraft, vehicles, boats and artillery exhibits is mind-blowing.

There are 10 permanent exhibitions at IWM Duxford

• AirSpace

• Flying Aircraft

• Historic Duxford

• Air and Sea

• Battle of Britain

• Conservation in Action

• Battle of Britain: Ops Block

• American Air Museum

• Land Warfare

• The British Airliner Collection including 13 commercial airliners.

As we had found a good spot (anywhere is a good spot to be honest), we set up our camping chairs and headed down to AirSpace, hangar 1, to see the impressive nose drop on Concorde and all the other amazing large and small aircraft from every era on display. It still baffles me how they got all those massive aircraft in there. That must have been some jigsaw puzzle!

Found our spot for the day. Jacob is very excited to see the Summer Air Show at IWM Duxford

There are different options for you to choose from for seating, you can go all out and opt for the Gold Experience giving exclusive access to the marquee, including a picnic hamper full of goodies, a Duxford Summer Air Show programme and VIP parking. You can also opt to sit in the grandstand, or, like us, we grabbed our camping chairs and a spot by the fence on the air side.

You can also become a member and get discounts, great offers and much more.

There are so many food and drink stalls, Jacob opted for a yummy pizza as you can see, it didn’t last long!

There’s plenty of food and drink on offer, lots of stands selling everything from pizza, burgers, hotdogs, to doughnuts, coffee and a bar.

Before the show, we bought tickets for The British Airliner Collection. This is also something I would recommend doing. £6 for adults and £3 for a child, this is really worth seeing. I pretended to be air crew walking through these commercial airliners. It’s great to see them from years gone by and see how air travel has changed.

There was plenty of other things to see and do. There was live entertainment with music and songs from a bygone era. There was vintage cars and WWI aircraft. You can try some circus skills, listen to IWM Duxford volunteers, have a ride on the traditional steam fair, try your hand at woodturning, or get up close to real live exotic animals in the Zoolab. It really is a great family day out.

The now famous blue Spitfire PL983 ‘L’ Thank U NHS from the Aircraft Restoration Company

We were so exited for the main event. The air show is truly breathtaking.

Being able to see so many different air craft take to the skies is something we never get bored of. It is an amazing sight to see.

The show opened with a very impressive parachute display from The Royal Air Force Falcons Parachute Team from RAF Brize Norton. A fantastic demonstration of precision freefall and canopy skills. Just wow!

The Royal Air Force Falcons Parachute Display Team’s impressive opener to the air show.

We were lucky enough to see the following air craft displays. Check out this flight list.

• Grob Tutor T1 from Royal Air Force Tutor Display Team

• Leonardo Helicopters Wildcat HMA2 from Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton

• The Blades Extra EA-300

• Fokker S-11 Instructor Stichting Fokker Four from the Royal Netherlands Air Force

• Richard Goodwin flying the Pitts S-2S biplane

• British Aircraft Corporation Strikemaster Pair from Strikemaster Display UK

• Calidus Autogyro from Gyro Air Displays

• Vans RV-8 x6 from Team Raven aerobatic display

• North American TF-51D Mustang from Anglia Aircraft Restoration Ltd

• Republic P-47D Thunderbolt from Anglia Aircraft Restorations Ltd

• Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-15UTI from Norwegian Air Force Historical Squadron

• de Havilland Vampire FB.52 from Norwegian Air Force Historical Squadron

• Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina from Plane Sailing

• Sopwith Triplane, SE5a, Avro 504K, Fokker Dr1, Junkers CL1 from the Bremont Great War Display Team

• Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress (Sally B) from B-17 Preservation

• North American T-6 x2 from Aircraft Restoration Company Anglian War Birds

• Spitfire PL983 ‘L’ from Aircraft Restoration Company.

We took so many photos of the fantastic air show. Here are some of the best

It was a great day out, we really enjoyed every part of it, especially the air show.

They have events on all year round, check out upcoming air shows and flying days.

We can’t wait to visit again soon.

Thank you Imperial war Museum Duxford for an unforgettable family day out.

Family fun day out at Chessington World of Adventures

It was a bit of a girly weekend when my mum Elaine and I took my daughter Amber to Chessington World of Adventures.

We had a fun-filled couple of days at the theme park in its 25th anniversary year. They have a great new stage show, Madagascar Live!

We were lucky enough to be among the first to see it.

If, like us, you love the Madagascar films you will enjoy seeing the characters and joining in the fun with Alex, Gloria, Mort and the penguins. You can pose for photos too, as did Amber, eight, with her favourite King Julien.

We stayed in the safari-themed hotel only a few strides away.

It is a great base from which to explore the Park, zoo and Sea Life Centre.

Now we know the answer to: “What’s better than spending a day at Chessington?

It’s: “Spending two days there.”

For a fun family day out visit: www.chessington.com.

Visit Eureka! the national children's Museum this half-term holiday

Stuck for somewhere to take the kids this October half-term holiday? Why not visit the Eureka! museum in Halifax, West Yorkshire.

When I say museum, this isn't a place that you have to look but don't touch, this is a hands on interactive museum that we spent hours in!

Everything at Eureka! has been designed to inspire children to find out about themselves and the world around them through 100s of hands-on exhibits.

They are just putting the fiendish finishing touches to their haunting Halloween programme for October half-term, so keep checking for the latest updates on their wicked week of tricks and treats for all the family.

We had a great time. Our daughter Amber loved the different galleries. The Me & My Body gallery where she learned about how the body works. She especially liked putting the bean bag into the mouth and watching what happens to it.

Lots of sights, sounds and smells! She went on the special bike to see a moving skeleton appear! She enjoyed measuring all of our stretch, reach and stride. We all had a go. There's something for everyone.

The Town Square at Eureka! is really well done, it's so cute! It provides a wonderful opportunity for role play - a small world for small people!

Children can explore the world of work as they become cashiers, postal workers and mechanics or try out some everyday grown up tasks such as writing cheques, going shopping and making lunch.

There is even a gallery for under 5s. Baby Jacob was quite happy playing in the Baby Oasis.

Amber really enjoyed the Soundspace where you can make music and use the sliders to change the music and lighting.

There really is so much to see and do that I can't mention them all!

There is a large cafe if you get peckish or they have a picnic area if you want to bring your own. The large car park is very nearby.

During the half-term week visitors can enjoy a Spooktacular Halloween.

Wandering through the galleries, children can watch out for scary characters including the Banshee, Medusa, Vampires and Grave Robbers.

After surviving the murky swamps, the daring explorers can investigate the wreckage of cursed ship the 'Black Light' in search of treasure and delve into its disgusting barrels. To help them on their quest they can confuse the spooks by Mummifying their Mummies and making new pirates out of discarded bones.

Buy your tickets anytime before the day of your visit and jump the queue. See the website for details www.eureka.org.uk During the holidays the museum is open everyday from 10am to 5pm. Admission prices are: * Adults: £9.95 Children age 3+ : £9.95 Toddlers age 1-2: £3.45 Babies age 0-11 months: free.

*Prices correct at the time of writing this blog.

www.eureka.org.uk