Exmouth author Emma Richardson writes for this title.
I’ve been lucky enough over the Easter holidays to take this kids up to the South East for a few days away from home.
With family living just outside London, it’s an inexpensive mini-holiday and a change of scenery.
I love our little corner of East Devon, but when the opportunity arises to go and grab a bit of culture in London I seize it wholeheartedly and embrace the change in perspective that always accompanies it.
There were two standout visits from this trip, the first was to the Tower of London, which despite having visited more than once before always astounds me for it’s tangible link with history.
When standing within the palace walls touching the very stones of the place I always think how amazing it is that Walter Raleigh, born just down the road from us here at Hayes Farm was not only imprisoned there for many years, but is such a huge part of the history of our country.
A little lad from East Budleigh, a main player on the world stage. Don’t let anyone ever tell you kids that you can’t conquer the world from East Devon!
The second visit was to see the fantastic Woman in Black at the Fortune Theatre in the West End.
If you’ve never seen it on the stage, I would highly recommend it (nothing like the film really) and if you’ve never seen theatre in the West End, I would also highly recommend that.
The theatres in London have history seeping through the walls- it’s a totally enchanting experience and every year, for the whole of August, a child aged 16 or under can go to any participating show for free where tickets are available as long as they’re accompanied by a full paying adult.
This is known as Kids Week and is worth looking out for online as the deals will start to be advertised soon. For those of us that can’t make the trip up to the Big Smoke to get our hit of theatre, there’s a well kept secret in Sidmouth that you really should know about.
Every summer, the Manor Pavilion Theatre in Sidmouth runs a 12 week summer play season- 12 plays on 12 weeks. Produced by Paul Taylor Mills - artistic director of The Turbine Theatre at The Battersea Power Station, London, the programme is varied and always good quality. Paul has worked as advisory producer to Andrew Lloyd Webber and The Really Useful Group and is former artistic director of The Other Palace Theatre, London so he really is at the heart of West End productions.
The season starts in June and runs through the summer, details are yet to be released of this year’s offerings, but it would be worth keeping an eye on the theatre website to ensure you don’t miss out.
So much to do down here, that whilst it was great to get away- it’s also lovely to be home.
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