Welcome to the July edition of Cultured Kids, a blog link-up open to all culture lovers! We share the best family cultural days out, travel, events and activities from around the world. And just in time for the school holidays, for us UK parents at least! With several weeks to fill, I’m sure we could all do with more inspiration.
Share one of your own posts, or read what others have linked up. Cultured Kids is a lovely, friendly community I’ve been part of for years. Aside from all the excellent culture and travel suggestions, I’ve met so many inspiring bloggers through it and have even found IRL friends. One of the things I love about culture is how it can bring people together, and this link-up aspires to do the same.
Myself and co-host ZenBabytravel would love you to share your adventures with this month’s Cultured Kids. All joining instructions and linked blog posts are at the end of this post.
After three years as co-host, Megan from Truly Madly Kids is taking a well deserved break. Thanks Megan for all your hard work on Cultured Kids over the years, and we look forward to hearing from you in future link-ups.
So what have the Museum Family been up to since my last post in May?
After the cultural famine of early 2021, came the feast. Indoor museums reopened in England on May 17 with new exhibitions EVERYWHERE. I went dotty with Yayoi Kusama’s infinity rooms at Tate Modern. Another blockbuster, Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser at V&A Museum is upbeat, interactive, and a heck of a lot easier to get tickets for!
I’ve attended museum openings and reopenings, including the extended and refurbished Museum of the Home, the brand new Bow Street Police Museum, and Canary Wharf’s first Summer Lights sculpture trail. Closer to home, we tested the fantastic play fountains at the new Fellowship Square at Walthamstow. We’ve also revisited favourite spots, like the Horniman Museum to see Monkey Business, and the London Transport Museum with friends.
With the kids at school I’ve had some childfree exhibition visits. I loved the ethereal beauty of Igshaan Adams at Hayward Gallery, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye‘s paintings at Tate Britain are poetic. But it was Zanele Muholi at Tate Modern which really gripped me, with its intimate and intense photographs of LGBTQI+ individuals. Don’t worry if you missed it – Muholi and Yiadom-Boakye exhibitions will both return to Tate after their international tours.
I’m making the most of London’s international tourists being away by working my way round our iconic sites. I took Museum Teen and friends to the 700-year old Ceremony of the Keys at Tower of London, clambered on board London’s iconic warship HMS Belfast – reopened and refreshed after 18 months of closure – and had a nosy round Buckingham Palace Gardens.
For May half term we took the Very Hungry Caterpillar Trail at London Zoo, and saw outdoor art with England’s Creative Coast and the Estuary Festival. Although no doubt the kids will mainly remember trying to safely navigate the jelly-fish filled waters of Shoeburyness! The pop-up forest in Somerset House courtyard for London Design Biennial was spectacular. And it’s hard to believe we were only in the Wye Valley for two nights as we fitted in the ancient Puzzlewood, llama trekking, the epic Goodrich Castle, the Forest of Dean sculpture trail and a picnic dinner at Symonds Yat – yet still felt relaxed when we came home!
Short UK staycations are definitely where we’re at – I can’t face the uncertainty of overseas travel. We had a weekend press trip with East Midlands Railway to Derby to see its brand new Museum of Making and try the Derby Ram Trail. For Museum Boy’s birthday in Suffolk I reaffirmed my fear of heights on a Go Ape outing, and got back in my comfort zone with street art exhibition Moments at Moyse Hall Museum. And finally, a stay with family in Shropshire included a visit to Boscobel House and the Royal Oak with its excellent brand new playground.
Here’s to a summer filled with more cultural adventures!
Thanks so much everyone for joining in last time, we loved reading all your posts. ZenBaby Travel’s and mine favourites were:
A boating holiday on the Norfolk Broads by Chimptrips
Madeira food – 12 traditional foods & drinks you must try by Wander & Luxe
PIN FOR LATER:
Lucky you! Getting into the Yayoi Kusama infinity room! We loved doing that over here at Louisiana Museum outside Copenhagen. And thanks so much for featuring my post about adorable Ebeltoft Denmark. Cheers from here!