Skip to main content

Little Ruperts


Canterbury is like a mini City, everything that you could want from a City but in a much smaller version apart the cathedral, which is actually quite grand. There is a museum full of little bits of everything from the ice age right the way through history to our favourite part, the Rupert Bear Museum. The museum is so sympathetically designed that you can in fact skip all of the history and go straight through a second door to the "kiddie area", as Charlie calls it. On the second Thursday of each month, it is the Little Rupert's story time in the Rupert Bear Museum. The children sit on the lily pad cushions and are read a story, Rupert Bear and his friends, which includes his best friend Bagpuss (who also has his own little area of the museum) are invited out of a story sack for a sing a long and then it's the craft part of the morning.



Today's theme was Halloween and all things spooky which meant we read "Room on the Broom" by Julia Donaldson and then made Gruffalo Masks. Charlie had so much fun but did not really want to have his photo taken in his mask with the other children so we put it on Rupert.



It really is a brilliant place to go. Charlie loves the "kiddie area", the knights' armour and all the weapons (he is such a boy), Josie is really interested in history and wants to read everything about everything and I adore all the Mary Tourtel and Alfred Bestall original painted illustrations for Rupert Bear. They are truly beautiful. I also love the World War II artifacts, in particular there is a chest of drawers filled with sewing paraphernalia to support the "Make do and mend" slogan which is a philosophy we would do well to think carefully about today. There are blogs devoted to this ideal and even a website Make do and mend. I'm always inspired to make my own clothes but haven't really done so for years. I think I shall put a skirt on my endless list of projects to do. I also couldn't mention World War II without including my favourite government campaign ever: Dig for Victory. Perhaps some of the country's problems might be addressed today if it were to be reintroduced.

Comments

  1. That looks like a great place to go! I like the 40s WW2 posters as well, I love the art and simplicity and common sense! squander bug, save your food for pigs and the land army one with the girl showing her muscles saying we can do it are my favourites.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is a great place to go Amanda ! My kids and i have been sooo many times . I always have trouble getting them home ! Its brings back lots of memories and i love watching the frog song with Paul Mcartny at the end. Im so glad you mentioned this on your blog today Susie because have just realised i havnt been there for a while . Dont you just love the giant snakes and ladders!!!!!!!!!! and i still havnt mastered drawing Rupert xxxxxx

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you very much for taking the time to make a comment, it really brightens my day and everyone loves getting a little bit of feedback. If you are viewing my blog through Facebook on an iPad, then you need to open my blog in Safari to comment....such a pain but I can't work out any other way to do it

Popular posts from this blog

Ridgeway Cottage Anyhow - How to add social media buttons to your blog

I know not everyone is excited by learning code and techie stuff but in my quest for website geekiness, this post is just one step closer. For all my lovely friends and family who do not care one hoot about what goes on behind the scenes of Ridgeway Cottage, here are some lovely photos of October life. (Those who do want to know about the buttons, social media and coding, please read on.) Social Media Buttons Anyhow You will need. Your blog open in layout  The URL of your social media places you want to link to Some lovely pictures of social media icons that you would like to use as your buttons A photobucket account which you can easily open here A small understanding of how the coding works  A rather large smattering of patience unless you are super clever at all techie stuff   What social media icons are you going to use? You can find some very lovely ones by searching on the internet or there are some here, here ,  or here . I liked these...

Granny square Christmas

When I was younger I fell in love with the granny square blanket my Nan had made. It was in her tiny little Welsh cottage near the mountains and was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. So many colours and combinations of colours, it was just truly amazing. I'm not sure if it's the happy childhood memories or my ever increasing passion for crocheting, but granny squares (and doilies) are something I could fill me life with. Even more delightful are the variations on granny squares. Star burst blanket, which used to be my favourite, but I have recently had a go at African flowers. They are quick and easy to make and so very pretty. Thanks to the brilliant free pattern that I found here , I have managed to make a little crochet Christmas stocking made out of 16 1/2 motifs. I am happy with the how the little Christmas stocking turned out and am now rather fond of African flowers, star burst and granny squares, well actually, all...

The Pink Ladies

As we sat in our classroom inspired horseshoe, designed to encourage conversation, there was a slightly uneasy silence. Those of us who knew each other, stole furtive glances, others returned our smiles politely although they were not privy to the planning and discussion that had occurred in preparation for the evening. The time had slowed, 8pm seemed an age away. The silence was intermittently interspersed with brief attemps at small talk and the rants of a drunk outside on the city streets. The commanding presence of our WI advisor Dorothy, had the air of an experienced headmistress or well respected senior relative which in the event of such formalities made me feel foolish in my .....excitement. Some of us stifled giggles as advice was provided on the process, as we had already made the majority of our formal decisions but it was with noticeable nerves, that I raised my hand to the question of who wished to be President.   So that's it, another new chapter has open...