John Johnson
Member
Every year on my birthday I like to visit the Natural History Museum at Kensington. Ever since I was a child I have been spell bound by the collections that encompasses everything from a moth to a meteorite. For my partner Michelle it is not such a happy experience. It doesn't really float her boat and to be fair she suffers the trip in silence each year. This year I was told we wouldn't be making the trip to Kensington and instead we would be heading out to Quex Park in East Kent.
To be quite frank I was stunned by what I found there. A collection of around a century past of animals from all over the globe that were beautifully and tastefully displayed in diaramas showing the beasts in natural settings. The quality of the mounts does not tally up in the mind with their age and is a long lasting testament to the passion and efforts of Major Percy Powell-Cotton and his family. The Natural History Museum of London DO NOT have mounts of the same calibre in their collections of a similar age.
If you have not visited before I strongly advise you to go, the experience is immersive, heady and inspiring. Where else can you go through a doorway into a small room and be confronted by two full elephants in a cabinet?
I have put together a few video clips of my trip there (the editing is rough) if anybody is interested in a peek at some of the displays.
To be quite frank I was stunned by what I found there. A collection of around a century past of animals from all over the globe that were beautifully and tastefully displayed in diaramas showing the beasts in natural settings. The quality of the mounts does not tally up in the mind with their age and is a long lasting testament to the passion and efforts of Major Percy Powell-Cotton and his family. The Natural History Museum of London DO NOT have mounts of the same calibre in their collections of a similar age.
If you have not visited before I strongly advise you to go, the experience is immersive, heady and inspiring. Where else can you go through a doorway into a small room and be confronted by two full elephants in a cabinet?
I have put together a few video clips of my trip there (the editing is rough) if anybody is interested in a peek at some of the displays.