Rachel Recommends… Ideas for rainy days!

I don’t let a bit of rain dampen my spirits!

Well what a rotten week it’s been on the weather front, rain, rain everywhere and only a few hours of daylight per day! You would think that after spending the wettest summer on record for nearly a hundred years in a camper van that I might have embraced a fondness for wet weather, you’d be wrong! However, one thing I do know, is that Britain has a staggering choice of indoor attractions to keep the whole country entertained! Here’s a few of my favourites to help you keep the winter blues at bay…

Sea Life – Venues Nationwide 

Submerge yourself in a watery adventure at Sea Life

I first visited Sea Life at Blackpool when I was young child and have fond memories of pressing my face up against the glass to see all kinds of tropical fish. I was oblivious to the bracing winds and the crashing waves on the Atlantic Ocean just outside, I was having far too much fun with my aqautic adventure!

On a more recent visit, the weather was just as miserable but there was a warm welcome from the team at Sea Life who spoke passionately about the many species they care for, from sharks to seahorses and the crowd pleasing clownfish!

You can easily spend a whole day at Sea Life, enjoying the feeding demonstrations, getting up close to starfish in the interactive rock pool and letting the kids go wild in the soft play areas.

Indoor Climbing – Venues Nationwide

Geting to grips with climbing… indoors!

I don’t consider myself a natural climber, I’m much happier with my feet on the ground and those harnesses aren’t the most flattering of things to wear! That said, I would urge anyone to try out an indoor climbing wall! At places like Quay Climb in Exeter you can book a taster session and get help and encouragement from a friendly instructor who will have you scaling those walls time!

If there’s rivalry in your family or group of friends you’ll have a great time, I even ended getting competitive with myself, wanting to reach new heights with every attempt!

Free Museums – Venues Nationwide

The Museum of Liverpool

Britain has thousands of free museums that are perfect havens for rainy days. I’m not going to offer a list of each and every one, there are plenty of other websites where you can find that information! What I will say is that if you haven’t visited one of the Nation’s museums in recent years you may be in for quite a surprise… they’re certainly not the stuffy, silent, institutions they once where!

Two of my favourites are two of the newest you’ll find in the country, The Museum of Liverpool and The Bridewell in Norwich. They might be very different in size but they are both inspired by their local history and offer a glimpse of life was like for our ancestors. As you’d expect in Liverpool, the new museum at the Albert Dock is bursting with sport and music nostalgia. My favourite era is definitely the 60′s so as well as lapping up the pop culture on Merseyside I also felt right at home in the retro living room at The Bridewell!

The Bridewell Museum, Norwich

All images by Rachel Kershaw.

Rachel Kershaw is 31 and lives in Newcastle upon Tyne but is originally from Rochdale. With parents who have never even owned passports, it was inevitable that Rachel would fall in love with holidays in Britain. It was her genuine passion that saw her win the opportunity to be VisitEngland’s Fan in a Van in summer 2012 – an adventure that involved ten weeks on the road in a vintage VW camper blogging about everything from bungee jumping, hot air ballooning and surfing to visiting museums, zoos and numerous British eateries! What a lucky lady!