I like to think I've visited most museums in London. There is one though, that always pops up on those '100 things to do in London' lists that I haven't visited. The Horniman Museum. I've heard lots of good stuff about it, but it's all the way in South London. I mean, they don't even have tube lines down there! However in the spirit of trying new things and leaving my comfort zone I decided to head to the museum this weekend. Before we arrived there was one thing I did know about the Horniman - it has a giant walrus, it's always in the promotional photos!
So to begin our journey South we jumped on a train to Clapham Junction, changed to another overground train and arrived at Forest Hill after about 30 minutes. What would you know, not that difficult to get to after all! From there it was a five minute walk up the hill to the museum. As we didn't know how long the sun would be out we decided to do things a bit backwards, and went past the museum entrance to wander in the gardens first.
We were there just in time to catch the last flowers of summer so it was lovely and colourful, especially the wild flower patches. The tended gardens looked good too but there's something about wild flowers that draws me in. I love how they grow untamed and free. If I ever have a place big enough I want a whole wildflower meadow.
Just past these gardens there is a small animal walk through. It didn't open until later that day, and I figured it's geared towards kids rather than adults so we didn't want to hang around for it to open, but we saw a few residents without having to go in the actual walk through, Stuart's favourite: sheep!
There's also a big green, perfect for picnics, and above that a cafe and outdoor space, which today was being used for a farmers market.
It was a nice little market, with a veg stall, a butcher, a homemade chocolate stall and a few others. I could see it would be good if you lived locally but we didn't want to carry any stuff home so we headed to the top of the hill to check out the view across London.
Then switching from a landscape view to something a bit more closer, we enjoyed the summer flowers.
Then we headed back towards the museum, stopping off at the ornate greenhouse. I'm not sure why it was empty, it would have been nice to see it being used, but if I'm having a wild flower meadow Stuart wants a green house just like this one. We're going to need a pretty big garden!
Finally we headed inside the museum, and into the Natural History Gallery.
The Natural History gallery was opened in 1901 when Victorians had spent a good few years going across the globe killing and stuffing whatever they found. Now I know these animals died decades ago, and that the studies happening around this time were invaluable for science and expanding our knowledge, but I still couldn't help but be a little sad at all the taxidermy on display. Although if you look closely you can see some of the exhibits have naturally deteriorated they still look alive, and these three were definitely judging me.
It was interesting learning about the difference defences animals have, from speed, claws, poison and spikes, so it was educational, but just a bit unnerving for a wimp like me. As well as taxidermy they also have skeletons and bones on display. I found the elephant one particularly fascinating.
My favourite exhibit though was the Merman, from 1919. Apparently sailors used to bring specimens like the Merman back to encourage tales of the mystical creatures. However most were made from the head of a monkey stitched to a fish tail. The Horniman Merman is made from a wire frame, wood, clay and fish. You can read more about him here. Despite not being real he's a pretty creepy fellow. Try not to think of him the next time you're in the sea and you feel something brush past your leg...
Leaving Manny behind we went to the balcony to check out the fossils. Stuart enjoyed this section but for me, the best bit of the balcony was the view into the floor below.
It was starteing to get pretty noisy in the gallery so we waved farewell to the Walrus, and went to check out the musical gallery.
It was pretty dark in this room, so my photos didn't come out to well, but jackpot, we found the 'hands on room' before any kids did. That mean we got to check out and play some of the instruments.
But like the pied piper our music must have called to the children because before we knew it the room was filled with kids tunelessly bashing, or licking (!) the drums and thumb piano. Leaving the room to the youngsters and their frazzled looking parents we headed back into the main music gallery.
And that was everything. We'd explored the Horniman in a morning. There was a paid exhibit (Robot Zoo) but again I assume aimed at kids so we didn't want to pay to go there, and another gallery that was closed until 2018. The museum was smaller than I expected, but interesting nonetheless. I've checked online and it seems they do different events throughout the year. I'm not itching to go back, but if you live locally definitely check them out and let me know what you think.
All in all, a nice morning but I still prefer the Hunterian Museum, or The Musuem of Zoology, both in central London. Sorry South London, I'm not a convert yet but it was nice visiting.
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