EVENTS: SCHOOL SUMMER HOLIDAYS - Things to do for all the family Part 2: History, The Great Outdoors, Sport and Art

Published: 22 July 2010
by JOSH LOEB

HISTORY

RAF Museum
Feel what it’s like to take a spin in a Spitfire or a Hurricane in the flying simulators at this popular attraction housed in a former RAF air base. The range of family oriented activities includes the Battle of Britain Hall, where you can fly through the history of one of the defining battles of the Second World War and experience an audiovisual presentation of this landmark period in British history. Younger children will be whisked back in time in the free 3D cinema and there is an interactive gallery where children can explore the science of flight. 
• RAF Museum, open daily. Free entry. 020 8205 2266, Colindale Tube, www.rafmuseum.org.uk 

The London Dungeon
More of a visceral than a cerebral historical journey, the dungeon is perfect for those with a morbid fascination with the darkest parts of London’s history and it is not for the faint-hearted. Grotesque reproductions of terrible execution machinery and heart-stopping rides are guaranteed to horrify you, while the adrenaline-pumping Drop Ride To Doom will fling you into a pit of darkness and leave you pale with fear. New attraction Bloody Mary introduces you to the most grimy, grotty and gruesome aspects of Tudor London.
• London Dungeon, open daily. Adults (at the door) £23, concs £21, children £17, under-4s free. 020 7403 7221, London Bridge Station, www.thedungeons.com

London Transport Museum
Following a £22million refurbishment, this newly reopened museum explains the origins of some of London’s most iconic forms of transportation and boasts a range of workshops for families with titles like “strongest structures”, “tallest towers” and “rainy days”. In the new galleries you can watch archive footage of trams on familiar central London streets and find out how the Under ground spawned a ring of suburban centres and changed our city forever.
You can also see what the transport of the future might look like and see photographs of “ghost stations” – disused Tube stops including York Road station in King’s Cross.
• London Transport Museum, open daily. Adults £10, 
Children under 16 free entry, Students £6, Senior Citizens £8.
0207 379 6344, Covent Garden Tube, www.ltmuseum.co.uk

THE GREAT OUTDOORS

City farms
If you live in inner London, the chances are your home is not surrounded by fields. However, you are probably not too far from a farm. The Kentish Town City Farm has been delighting young children with its resident horses, pigs, goats, ducks and cows ever since its establishment in the 1970s. 
In Islington, the fantastic Freightliners Farm contains many rare breeds of farm animal as well as an open air theatre where performances of Macbeth and The Taming of the Shrew are taking place over the summer. 
Other London farms include the Mudchute Farm on the Isle of Dogs (watch out for the cantankerous Llamas) and the Hackney City Farm near Broadway Market. 
Many urban farms welcome volunteers. If you’re lucky, you might get to take home some freshly laid eggs. 

• Kentish Town City Farm, open daily, 9am-5pm, free, donations welcome, 1 Cressfield Close, off Grafton Road, NW5, Kentish Town Tube, 020 7916 5421.
• Freightliners Farm, open daily,10am-4.45pm in summer,  free, 
Sheringham Road, N7,  Caledonian Road Tube, 020 7609 0467.
• Mudchute Park & Farm, open daily, 9am-5pm, Pier Street, Isle of Dogs, E14, 020 7515 5901.
• Hackney City Farm, Tues-Sun 10am-4.30pm, 1a Goldsmiths Row, E2, 020 7729 6381.

Duck tours
Your tour bus dramatically launching itself into the Thames would normally be the cue for lots of screaming, people preparing to do the front crawl and angry passengers demanding compensation once they have made it back to dry land. If you are on “duck”, however, you don’t even need to know how to swim because when your vehicle splashes into the river, it becomes a boat, allowing you to take in the sights of the city from the river. 
Duck Tours make use of amphibious buses that were used during the D-Day landings. An onboard guide provides a commentary during the road and river parts of your tour. You can even hire a duck all of your own and design your own tour through London.   
• Duck Tours, departure point: Duck Stop, Chicheley Street, SE1, Bookings 020 7928 3132, Waterloo Tube.

Camley Street Natural Park
Frogs, heron, fish, foxes and terrapins are some of the wild animals that make their home in the Camley Street Natural Park. Despite being in the midst of King’s Cross and the surrounding urban moil, here you can find a tranquil habitat for a variety of wildlife. 
On alternate Sundays from 2-4pm a summer play scheme called the Really Wild Club will be being held for young people aged 12 to 16. The club allows children to explore their creative side in drawing competitions, help build a pond and have fun identifying and surveying wildlife as part of the park’s animal “safaris”. 
• Camley Street Natural Open, open daily, free, 0207 833 2311, King’s Cross Station/ St Pancras Internationalwww.wildlondon.org.uk

SPORT

Wembley Stadium tour
Anyone can experience the thrill of striding out on to the pitch and roaring in victory while lifting the FA cup (well, a replica of it) at the behind-the-scenes tour of Wembley Stadium. Participants are promised privileged access to the saint’s relics of English football – the 1966 World Cup crossbar and the Jules Rimet Trophy commemorating England’s famous win. 
There are similar tours at both the Emirates Stadium and White Hart Lane. At Arsenal’s ground, some of the tours are even led by legends from the club’s Highbury past including cult hero Perry Groves. 
• Wembley Stadium, Wembley,  HA9, 0844 980 8001
• Emirates Stadium, N5, 020 7619 5000,  Holloway Road Tube. 
• White Hart Lane, Tottenham, N17, 0870 420 5000, Seven Sisters Tube.

SWIMMING AND BOATING
You can’t beat a swim in a lido – or even better – a lake. In Hampstead Heath and Parliament Hill Fields bathing ponds you can swim with the ducks in bodies of water produced by the underground springs that once fed the mighty River Fleet. Younger swimmers nervous about taking a dip in the ponds can head to the nearby Lido. And those who don’t fancy swimming can head to the ponds and lakes of Finsbury Park, Alexandra Palace Park, Regent’s Park and Hyde Park, where on a sunny day you can hire pedalos. 

ART

National Portrait Gallery
Photography classes, storytelling, portraiture taster sessions and the opportunity to create a site-specific dance piece in the Tudor Galleries are among the activities for young people and families taking place at the National Portrait Gallery over the summer.  
On Saturday (July 24), from 10.30am-1pm, you can join storyteller Fiona Alderton to hear about the epic adventure of a young boy who dreams of competing in the 2012 Olympics (free, booking required), while throughout August there will be Tour and Draw led by artists, and art trails are available for children aged 5+, encouraging families to explore portraits through drawing activities and questions. 
• National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, WC2. Telephone 020 7306 0055 for details or visitwww.npg.org.uk Leicester Square Tube. Daily, 10am-6pm and 9pm on Thursdays and Fridays. 

• Additional research by Emily Stubbings