Cool Little Museums in London - The Grant Museum of Zoology

Want to shake hands with a skeleton, put your head in the jaws of a shark, see a jar of pickled moles and some Dodo bones, then the Grant Museum in London is well worth a visit. 

Free entry (donations welcome) and open from 1pm - 5pm Mon - Saturday it is situated in the Rockefeller Building on University Street, London, WC1E 6DE. 

This compact venue packs in a plethora of curios from 1827 onwards and was established by Robert Edmond Grant, a professor of Zoology, who amassed a collection of specimens for teaching purposes. Grant was persuaded on his death bed to leave this collection to the University of London (UCL). His radical evolutionary views also influenced the young Charles Darwin. 

There is a rather nice pdf guide of ‘Top Ten Objects to view at the Grant Museum’ which you can download here.

One of the rarest skeletons in the world, these are the bones of a Quagga or South African zebra, extinct since 1883.

Extinct Quagga (South African zebra)

Did you know elephants only have four teeth!

Elephants teeth?

Nice drawers.

Grant Museum UCL

Saying hello to Mr Bones.

How do you do?

You can become a friend of the Grant Museum and adopt a specimen.

Grant Museum London

Grant Museum UCL

Not so swift now, a collection of stuffed birds.

Grant Museum

Platypus, Flatypus, Platysausage!

Grant Museum, UCL

Man but not as we know him, a collection of evolutionary skulls.

Homo skulls - Grant Museum

Everywhere you look there is something to see. Here’s a monkey skeleton hanging from the rafters!

Grant Museum, UCL

It is now illegal to collect tortoiseshell and man can replicate it synthetically, too late for these poor blighters however.

Grant Museum, UCL

Real tortoiseshell - Grant Museum, UCL

Erbie liked seeing his face at the back of the shark - kids and mirrors.

Grant Museum, UCL

Grant Museum, UCL

So much to see...

Grant Museum, UCL

Microscope slides

Jar of moles

 A collection of mammal brains.

 A lovely collection of glass jellyfish and other invertebrates, even a slug which were hard to preserve made by the Czech jewellers Blaschka.

Anatomically perfect model in glass - Grant Museum, UCL

There are lots of interesting books to browse through too.

Grant Museum, UCL

Dem bones.

Grant Museum, UCL

Grant Museum, UCL

As Erbie has the attention span of a gnat this little museum was perfect for an afternoon visit. His favourite things were the giant turtle shell and the giant dear skull. Mine were the glass slug and the Dodo bones.

Erbie and I took the 134 bus which stops just across the road on Gower Street. The nearest tubes are Warren Street or Euston Square.

   

Grant Museum location map here.

Lunch boxes for boys

Erbie needs a new lunch bag for school, the zip on his latest Angry Bird Star Wars one broke and the pound shop stop-gap lasted a day. 

Although all primary school children in our borough are entitled to free school meals Erbie takes a packed lunch due to his allergies. 

Here are a selection I have picked from amazon ranging in price from £3 - £23, Erbie has just chosen the Star Wars Yoda one, (typically the dearest!).

Clone Wars

Darth Vader - Star Wars

Stormtroopers - Star Wars

Yoda - Star Wars

Darth Maul - Star Wars

Superman

Despicable Me - Minion

Simpsons

Angry Birds

Skylanders

Disney Planes

Moshi Monsters

Frozen

All images © amazon.co.uk

Forget Me Nots

Yesterday would have been my mum’s birthday, sadly she died of a heart attack before Erbie was born. As she had been a lover of nature and all things flora and fauna I though it would be a good day to visit the allotment, of which I have been a little remiss of late. To my great joy I found it carpeted in forget-me-nots and a tuft of primroses and violets had burst through in my woodland section.

Primroses and violets

It was a gloriously sunny Spring day, perfect for digging. I managed to clear 3 beds, put up a beech wigwam ready for beans and sweetpeas, trim back the privet and gather myself a bunch of forget-me-knots to bring home before the school run.

I treated myself to a half bottle of champagne and had a glass whilst Erbie was in the bath. I've decided it is good to drink champagne on the birthdays of those who are not with us - to remind us to drink it on the birthdays of those that are.

Forget-me-nots from the allots.

R.I.P. 

Style Forever - How to look fabulous at every age by Alyson Walsh

Style Forever by Alyson Walsh (Hardie Grant, £12.99)
Illustrations: Leo Greenfield

I’ve recently been enjoying a new grown-up guide to looking fabulous called Style Forever by That’s Not My Age blogger, Alyson Walsh. It's all about embracing age with panache and is stuffed full of seasoned advice from experts on looking great as we get older. How not to disappear into a haze of beige but say hello to Generation FAB (Fifty and Beyond). Here, here I say!

I tend to get lost style-wise sometimes, especially on the school run and at one stage in the not so distant past had slipped into a uniform of wellingtons, Barbour and flat cap - I know, I know - no excuse (unless I was Kate Moss at Glastonbury).

Style Forever hit a chord - why should I as an older mother not continue to enjoy clothes as much as I had in my younger days, okay maybe not the lurex hot pants or sky high heels my young legs and feet could carry off in my clubbing days, but yes decent shoes and a good pair of jeans with a well-fitting Breton top, rather than literally throwing on whatever was at hand. Thankfully I have been shopping since the wellington days and a with a pair of decent boots, a well cut coat and a big scarf I can pass muster at the gates. This is exactly the kind of advice that can be found in the book.

The author, Alyson Walsh was actually a magazine fashion editor and for years was making-over readers, friends and family so knows her stuff when it comes to looking stylish and feeling good in what we wear. Taking in elements such as fit, proportion, colour, layering, jewellery and make-up the book gives plenty of useful pointers such as: eight perfect pairs of jeans and where to buy the perfect Breton. I love Dr Sam Bunting’s advice on skincare - ‘Eat 80% of what you should eat and 20% of what you want to eat.’ 

You can also learn how to tie a scarf à la Mary Berry or perform a DIY facial by Su-Man with step-by-step diagrams beautifully illustrated by Leo Greenfield. I liked the chapter on inspirational women such as Kay Montano and Wendy Dagworth and it was interesting to see what they would have said to their 15-year-old selves.

‘Spend money on good shoes.’

I especially enjoyed the Grown Up Style Tribes chapter with where to shop and heroines for each title. And fab titles they are too: The Casual Glamourpuss, The Older and Bolder Brigade, The Superpower Dresser, The Gentlewoman, The Fabulous Femme, The Scandinista and The Ageless Rocker. There's nothing to say you can’t be more than one depending on how you’re feeling on a particular day, it’s all about following your style and not the fashion of the moment.

Alyson’s writing has a friendly warmth to it and is not preachy at all, I almost feel like I am exchanging tips with a best friend over coffee or Martinis on a shopping trip; sharing where to get the best trainers or various styles of sunglasses. Some wonderful visual imagery is conjured up to clarify points too, such as Neneh Cherry in 1988 or Farrah Fawcett in 1972.

‘Take your shirts to the dry cleaners’ - life is too short 

I’m also going to be purchasing a few new beauty products offered up by six experts in the field: especially Guerlain’s Terracotta Compact powder - 'every Frenchwoman's secret for looking healthy and rested' as recommended by Mak Gilchrist.

This is a book for grown-up women, either on the verge of menopause or who shut that door a long time ago, women who are confident in their style or have lost their way, but women wanting to stand up and be counted and look their best whilst doing it. 

I have a few wrinkles but I earned them and I earned the right to look my best. So what if I'm over 40. Over 40 and fabulous darling!

‘Fighting ageing is like the War on Drugs. It’s expensive, does more harm than good and has been proven to never end.’ - Amy Poehler

Yummy Chocolate and Dairy-Free Easter Eggs - 2015

Easter falls at the beginning of April this year and I’ve been browsing the huge selection of wonderful Easter treats available, the choice these days is astounding, including dairy-free which is perfect for Erbie.

The GR and I are taking Erbie down to to the seaside to stay with grandaddy and are attempting our first night away. I’ve booked a hotel in Brighton for Good Friday and hopefully if things go to plan erbie will have a sleep-over with the G.dad. Brighton is where I lost my heart to The GR with one very innocent kiss, stolen in a doorway 19 years ago. 

I'm going off-piste again, on with the eggs...

An all time fave the luxury chocolate brand Prestat have produced a wonderfully grown-up one, London Gin truffles in a lemon infused white chocolate Easter Egg with popping candy bubbles, nestled in this handsome box, fit for the Queen perhaps (they are appointed!). 

© Prestat London Gin truffles Easter Egg box 

£14.99 from Selfridges

© Prestat London Gin truffles Easter Egg

Or this wonderful milk chocolate Charbonnel et Walker egg filled with pink Marc de Champagne truffles from John Lewis £15.00.

© Charbonnel et Walker @ John Lewis 

© Charbonnel et Walker @ John Lewis 

Hotel Chocolat have produced this chocolate tek on a classic English breakfast - eggy soldiers or dippy eggs or Eggs and Soldiers as it is called, mmmmm. £7.00 John Lewis

© Hotel Chocolat @ John Lewis

There are some good natural looking speckledy eggs from this goose egg sized, cupcake inspired Mint chocolate one by James - £5.00 from John Lewis

© James @ John Lewis

Box of 12 Superior Seagull Salted Caramel Eggs by Rococo of Marylebone - £7.50.

  A caramel ganache with fleur de sel covered in milk chocolate in a fine sugar shell. 

© Rococo

Bantam sized Belgian chocolate speckled eggs in edible grass by Natalie also available at John Lewis for £8.00

© Natalie Belgian chocolate eggs @ John Lewis

And the ones I'm hoping for only available in a box at Eastertime. Hazelnut praline quail eggs, if you hid these in the garden you may be forgiven for thinking they were real. Rococo Chocolates £7.50

© Rococo Chocolate Praline Quail Eggs

© Rococo Chocolate Praline Quail Egg

If you don't fancy chocolate eggs how about beautifully designed Easter biscuits from Biscuiteers.

This beautiful tin of 8 jewel like Faberge inspired iced biscuits are available for next day delivery from Biscuiteers - £30.00

© Biscuiteers Easter Egg mini biscuit collection

Or you can have a personalised Easter bunny card, I'm thinking about one of these two for the Belle Mere. Available from Biscuiteers.com - £11.50

© Biscuiteers Personalaised Easter Bunny Card

And for the kids - these super cute hand painted Easter Eggs by by Rococo Chocolates are solid  chocolate and come as a pair in a clear box with bow for £15.00 

© Rococo Chocolate

And last but not least dairy-free, gluten-free, wheat-free and egg-free Easter treats. 

Choices do these lovely dairy-free bunnies available at several shops including: Sainsburys and Holland and Barrett usually £1 or under as well as a selection of dairy free eggs in some stores. I prefer the white to the brown taste-wise.

© Choices Dairy Free bunnies

Moo Free Chocolates also do a fab range of Easter treats, these eggs come in 3 flavours, honeycomb toffee, milk chocolate and orange. All are dairy-free, gluten-free, wheat-free, lactose-free, vegetarian and vegan, so if you have just found out your child has a cows milk allergy these might be the perfect Easter Eggs for you! For stockists near you click here. Or check out their website moofreechocolate.com

Rosie Rabbit - Honeycomb toffee, dairy-free, gluten-free, wheat-free, lactose-free, vegetarian and vegan Easter Egg.

© Moo Free Chocolates

Rice milk chocolate dairy-free, gluten-free, wheat-free, lactose-free, vegetarian and vegan Easter Egg.

© Moo Free Chocolates

Cheeky Chops monkey Orange flavour dairy-free, gluten-free, wheat-free, lactose-free, vegetarian and vegan Easter Egg.

© Moo Free Chocolates