Sunday Step Back in Time at Brooklands

Sunday afternoons should be for relaxing, spending time with your family and unwinding from the week but so often people are working, taking part in clubs and activities and sadly don’t have the time to sit down with their families at home to have a roast dinner and time together. 

If you are looking to have an outing and don’t want to go far out of Greater London then our family couldn’t recommend enough the Brooklands Museum of Transport based out near Addlestone in Surrey.  It only takes on a Sunday about twenty minutes from Twickenham

The museum feels like you are stepping back in time.  From the minute you walk through the entrance, music from the 1930s and 1940s is coming out of the speakers in the streets you wander down and it sets the mood for a really nice visit.  In various sheds and hangers you will find collections of different types of transport including bicycles, racing cars and aeroplanes and it is just so relaxing to wander round and see these items so wonderfully preserved.  The smell of polish and oil is a reminder of how people used to really care and cherish for their things. 

Last weekend was a special event day and there were around fifty double decker buses from all parts of the country many that were privately owned and loved.  There were stalls both inside and outside selling all types of bus memorabilia and people nosing at these stalls were smiling and just looked content and satisfied with their choice of how to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Volunteers were out in force and all looked proud to be involved with such a museum and only happy to pass on their knowledge to the wandering guests.  From older guests who had obviously been keen transport enthusiasts all their lives or just wanting to step back in time, to families with younger children enjoying stepping into an old out of service airline plane or on an old Route Master bus.

My message to you is to make the most of your Sundays and try and plan to do something with your family even if that means just being together at home.  Volunteer Janet was showing people around a plane owned by the Sultan of Oman and was heard saying to people ‘I lost my husband two years ago and needed to keep busy and this place is just such a joy to work at.  I meet lots of interesting people and I’ve learnt a lot about the plane section of the museum.

Next to Brooklands is the other end of the scale in terms of days out – the Mercedes World Experience with various latest cars zooming around the test track.  So whatever you do, get out and enjoy yourself and both of these places are great destinations far enough out of London to feel that you’ve had a day out but not so far that you feel tired when you get home.

James Clarke, Hampton School