At the top of the stairs, you turn right, and at the doors you’re invited to take a length of plastic drainpipe. Armed for the adventure before you, you step through the doors and find yourself in the corridor of an enormous library. To one side is an imposing glass-fronted bookcase; in front of you, the crow peers and as you pass the manuscript, you notice a letterbox. Curiously you put your piece of piping through and with an ear to the pipe you hear the story being spoken to you alone in the silence of the library…
Along the corridors are bookcases filled with wonder, and the gaps between the cases take you into the stories: play games, be enthralled by magical lighting effects, listen through letterboxes, peek through peepholes, smell scents evoking the world you’ve entered.
Cans dispensed in the rubbish dump give you your rat-name (I was Fruity Beef); crawl into Gromit’s kennel; or experience a World War I trench before stepping into the Russian wilderness… Hide in a wardrobe to see the Northern Lights, and discover your daemon; enter the explorer’s shed; or find a future where animals have almost all died out…
This is a brief glimpse of part of the new Animal interactive exhibition opening at The Story Museum on Saturday 13th February, in time for lots of half-term fun. The museum also includes a talking throne, the biggest bed you’re ever likely to see, and more to experience than is possible in just one visit.
Artwork from Philip Pullman, Chris Riddell, and original props from Wallace and Gromit can be found as you explore, and there’s a cafe and shop for bunbreaks. Entry lasts all day, so you could take lunch outside the museum and return for the afternoon. The Story Museum is open from 10am-5pm throughout half term (11am-4pm on Sundays), and has a variety of additional events throughout the year.
- Give Your Kids a Half Term Adventure Story - February 11, 2016
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- Give Your Kids a Half Term Adventure Story - February 11, 2016
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Looks interesting and right up our street. I was thinking of taking Monkey into Oxford on the bus next week and this could just be our destination now.