We had a fabulous outing this Monday. We went to the D H Lawrence Heritage center and his Birthplace museum in Derbyshire near Nottingham.

   Due to many circumstance all of our usual group cancelled out on this one so we were the only ones going! We would have cancelled the whole thing, except that we were due to meet up with a home educating family who were on holiday in the area, so we went anyway. They are hoping to move nearby soon and wanted to meet up with home edders in the area.

   I must say that this was one of the best outings that we have had in the six years I have been organising them!!!! If you get a chance to go to this museum - TAKE IT!!! We learned all about Victorian life in the time period when Lawrence grew up.

   The tour guide was FAB with the kids and let them ask tons of questions and handle things, try things, and told us so many wonderful stories about Victorian life! The kids got to do actual 'washing day' and wash a sheet together, learned about the life of a miner and all about taking a bath back then.

   The funniest moment was when she was showing the kids Lawrence's Dad's lunch tin. She was making them guess what this tin was used for. They were guessing all weird and wonderful things and she decided to give them a 'clue'. So she said 'What do you take you sandwiches in to school?' Then she wondered why they all looked at her so blankly! I piped up and reminded her that we were the 'Home Education group' and that these particular kids had never crossed the doorstep of a school! She laughed and blushed and rephrased the question! LOL!

   After three wonderful hours in this Birthplace museum we went to have lunch in a nearby park and the kids played for an hour while we visited. The rain came back just as we went into the next building and enjoyed the Victorian life exhibition. There was a kitchen, a shop and market stall (the kids got to weigh and measure things and handle the exhibits), a fun fair, a Victorian schoolroom and a display about mining including a mine shaft for them to crawl through! All of this was complete with games to play, costumes to wear and slates to write on - very child friendly and hands on.

   There was a worksheet of a trail to do as they went through, answering questions about all they saw. Both Monkey and McGee did a great job with the trail and answered all the questions. There were also tons of coloring sheets to bring home and do later as well as a word search!

   There was a small display about his 'works' but we easily walked past that part. The lady doing the tour in the morning only said that 'He is so famous because he wrote alot of books. Books that only grown ups read.' and then moved on. Very sensitive and well handled!

   Then there was a small art gallery that the kids enjoyed looking at (and laughing at some of the so called 'art')! All in all it was a fabulous day and I was just sorry that more didn't get to take part. The best part of all of this? The entire day was FREE!!!!!! (boy I love that word!) We will definintly take others back here for a visit as a family because it was a wonderful day out!