Think | We are history

History is about so much more than dusty books and chalky memories of school days. You can bring history into your everyday easily by engaging with it in real life. Here are a few ways to immerse yourself in history and feel more meaningfully linked to the past.  

Try historical re-enactments 

Don’t panic. You don’t need to be able to joust or throw axes for this. Historical re-enactments have had a bad press historically (sorry) as something slightly nerdy and perhaps seen as the preserve of beardy middle-aged men. Today lots of historic sites and houses put on re-enactment days where you can get a taster for the past (and no beard required). Kentwell Hall in Suffolk, for example, runs Hands On History Days in August where you can meet more than 200 Tudor historians who’ll take you back to 1564 and help you get involved with brewing, stitching, felt-making, bread baking and many more activities from the time. 

Visit a historic site

We’re blessed with historical sites scattered all over our countryside here in the UK. Whether it’s climbing an iron-age hillfort or walking the corridors of a Georgian manor house, there’s nothing like walking in the footsteps of our ancestors to connect us immediately to the past. You can find the nearest historic sites and houses to you on The National Trust’s website. 

Learn an ancient skill

The past is a different country; they do things differently there. So there’s no way to connect with the past like learning how to do things the way they were done hundreds of years ago. You might want to learn how to build a dry-stone wall or how to spin wool into yarn by hand. Whatever tickles your distaff there’s sure to be a course in it somewhere near you. For a bit of inspiration, have a look at The Field Studies Council website, which offers courses in everything from bookbinding to spoon carving.

Immerse yourself in a podcast

If the plethora of podcasts about the past had been around when we were at school, the Industrial Revolution might have felt a lot more accessible. Listening to a podcast is a very simple way to learn a little about an event or period you know nothing about. We particularly love The Rest is History, available on the BBC, Spotify and all the usual podcast platforms. 

Listen to sounds from long ago

There are several sound libraries available online, but we love the British Library’s version, where you can listen to everything from Fairground music from the 1980s to  Queen Victoria’s voice.

Archive of smells

The thing about history is it’s pretty smelly. Those pomanders only go so far. If you want a real sense of what the past was like, you’ll want to give it a sniff. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) you can’t be transported so easily to the times of plague pits but you can get an idea by browsing the Odeuropa Smell Explorer, where they have collected information about various smells from visual and text sources, from coffee houses to public baths.

Go to a history festival

Pick an era and transport yourself there with one of the many historic festivals that take place around the UK. You can even dress up if you like, though it isn’t usually mandatory. We like the look of The Largs Viking Festival near Glasgow, and the medieval Loxwood Joust in Sussex. 

Enjoy an immersive experience

You won’t get much more immersive than an immersive historical experience, from escape rooms to theatre, there’s something for everyone and every era, and you’ll leave feeling like you’ve time travelled. The Gunpowder Plot Experience, which is currently being staged next door to the Tower of London, is full of 1605-style thrills and spills, using a mixture of live theatre and digital technology. 

Volunteer for local heritage projects and museums

Appreciate history while giving a little back by volunteering for a local museum or heritage project. The opportunity to be there ‘after hours’ gives you a connection to the past that you don’t get as a mere visitor and you’ll have the joy of imparting your newfound wisdom to others, too. Historic England has some good ideas about how to get started. 

See a living museums

Wander down an Edwardian high street at Beamish, or sit around a fire in a Tudor kitchen at the Weald and Downland… There are so many living museums to visit in the UK, where you don’t just look at the exhibits but become part of them. You’ll find more inspiration in our feature, A Slice of Life, from page 68 in our August issue. 

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Outing | Nights at the Museum

Ever fancied getting ‘accidentally’ locked in the museum after hours? Now could be your chance

A sleepover is always exciting, but the idea of camping out underneath dinosaur bones, or among dusty artefacts thousands of years old, is the stuff nights away dreams are made of. The good news is that lots of the UK’s museums are encouraging us to do just that. The even <better> news is that this isn’t just for kids; adults are more than welcome st many of them, too. Dust off your sleeping bag and torch - the museums are waiting for you…

Dino Snores, The Natural History Museum, London

Dino Snores, in which you set up camp in one of NHM’s iconic galleries for the night and take part in a raft of activities, before settling down to sleep at midnight, is probably the most famous of the museum sleepovers. The one snag is that you have to source a child to take with you in order to attend. But breakfast is included and it sounds amazing. What price, getting to sleep under a blue whale. Plus, there are occasional Dino Snores for Grown Ups events, too - no kids required!

nhm.ac.uk/events/dino-snores-for-kids.html 

The Deep Group Sleepovers, Hull

If Blue Whale skeletons aren’t enough for you, fall into a (Deep) Sleep, with a stopover at Hull’s The Deep. Get a gang together and park your sleeping bags next to sharks, rays, turtles and more, drifting off to the sight of huge sea monsters, swooshing past your pillow. This one is kids only (though you could sneak in if you’re perhaps a Cub Scout leader or similar) but it’s also available - albeit at quite a price - for individual families of up to six people.  

thedeep.co.uk/deep-experiences/sleepovers 

British Museum Sleepovers

Snooze in good company, among kings and pharaohs, at a British Museum overnight stay. Again, you will need to borrow a child, but a few stories about cursed mummies and we don’t think they’ll give you any trouble, leaving you free to enjoy your evening and experience one of the world’s best museums after hours. 

britishmuseum.org/membership/sleepovers

Data After Dark, National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh

Take the chance to explore the museum without having to politely wait for the kids to step aside from the buttons and give you a turn. Not quite a sleepover, but this event is open from 7pm to 10pm and lets the grown-ups get their hands on all kinds of fascinating exhibits, from virtual reality light sabre duels and Lego to items in the interactive gallery, including getting up close and personal with Dolly the Sheep. Ticket includes a drink from the Belfield Brewery and there’s plenty of fun for adults from DJs to food stands and photobooths. 

nms.ac.uk/exhibitions-events/events/national-museum-of-scotland/data-after-dark/

Kip on a Ship, HMS Belfast

Have hot chocolate from a real ‘mess mug’, learn semaphore and make your own flag pole aboard the HMS Belfast on the River Thames, before sleeping over on this historical ‘floating village’. Groups of children (and responsible adults) can stay for up to three nights. 

iwm.org.uk/kip

Themed sleepovers, The Novium Museum, Chichester

Learn about smugglers, space and much more with treasure hunts and hands-on activities by night at The Novium, Chichester’s Roman specialist museum and then settle down for sleep among the Roman Baths. 

thenovium.org/sleepover  

Soane Lates, Sir John Soane’s Museum, London

Another ‘lates’ event that’s a bit special and just for the grown-ups. Visit the atmospheric Sir John Soane museum (pictured above) after hours and see the exhibits by candlelight on 90 minute tours that run up 9.30pm. Soak up the atmosphere of the museum when no one else is around before heading out for dinner and drinks. 

soane.org/whats-on/soane-lates-spotlight-soane-april-2022 

Enjoy more unusual outings with our feature Sneak Peek in our May issue, in which we discover places where you can tour behind the scenes, from theatres and museums to hidden farms and secret gardens.

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Outing | museums and galleries you might not have heard of

With museums and galleries reopening, we’re sharing a few lesser known gems that are worth seeking out this summer

We’re so lucky here in the UK to have some of the world’s most amazing museums and galleries available to us. From the wonders of the Science Museum in Kensington to the beautiful architecture of the Kelvingrove Gallery in Glasgow. From the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich to art by the sea at Tate St Ives. 

But look a little closer and almost every town and village in the UK has its own museum, some dedicated to local history, others simply collections of the weird and wonderful that someone has loved enough to put on display. There are museums of lawnmowers, collections of teapots (pictured above at Teapot Island in Kent) and everything in between. 

As museums and galleries begin slowly to open, we thought we’d share some of The Simple Things team’s favourites around the country. Perhaps you can visit them on your travels this summer? Don’t forget to send us a postcard! 

The Time Machine Museum of Science Fiction, Bromyard, Herefordshire

Editor Lisa Sykes recently visited the area and was disappointed to find this closed but having sadly pressed her nose against the glass is planning to return this summer and explore the Time Machine Museum thoroughly. It contains props, costumes and more from TV Science Fiction series including Doctor Who, Star Trek, Captain Scarlet, Thunderbirds, Red Dwarf and more, all displayed in a suitably creepy dungeon. It may be small but it’s like a TARDIS inside. In fact, there is a TARDIS inside. 

The Hat Works Museum, Stockport, Cheshire

The Hat Works Museum was a favourite haunt of Sub Editor Abbie Miller’s delightful mum, who was a fan of excellent millinery and loved a jaunt here. Abbie’s hoping to explore it again herself next time she’s back ‘home’. Housed in a Grade II listed Victorian mill, you can see hats of all manner as well as learning about the hatting industry and hat blocking. Visit just for the joy of asking a curator: “Where DID you get that hat?!” Check website for opening.

Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge

This gallery started life as a home, belonging to a Tate curator, Jim Ede, and it retains its warmth and personality, making it a firm favourite for Deputy Editor, Frances Ambler. As well as the fine art, there are plenty of plants, carefully considered arrangements of found natural objects and plenty of places to stop, pause and take it all in. Kettles Yard is a really magic place.

Ditchling Museum of Arts and Crafts

Whenever Editor-at-Large, Iona Bower gets an afternoon to herself she sneaks off to Ditchling in West Sussex to be mesmerised by the rows of natural dyes Eric Gill fonts at the Arts and Crafts Museum. Ditchling is a tiny village so the museum feels strangely huge within it, but it houses internationally important works by some of the artists and craftspeople who flocked to Ditchling during the 20th century. The museum also has a fabulous shop and the best salted caramel brownies in the county, all housed in a beautiful converted farm building. 

Pallant House Gallery, Chichester

Picture Researcher, Liz Boyd loves a day trip to Chichester to Pallant House Gallery, a permanent and rotating collection of artworks in a beautiful townhouse in picturesque streets. There’a a fabulous art shop there, too. 

Hillbrush Brush-making Museum, Mere, Somerset

As eclectic as they come, this museum of brush-making, attached to the Hillbrush factory, is a favourite with Commissioning Editor, Lindsey Harrad. If you’re taking children with you, it’s worth knowing that they provide an excellent kids’ information pack, which includes mini brushes, so that they can sweep their away around the museum. Check website for opening times. 

Derwent Pencil Museum, Keswick, Cumbria

In true Art Editor form, Joe McIntyre’s favourite museum is the Derwent Pencil Factory, home of the first pencil, and entered through its own graphite mine. You can also see secret WW2 pencils with hidden maps, an eight-metre long colouring pencil  and more. 

Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford

Pitt Rivers is a favourite of Commissioning Editor, Karen Dunn, and is home to the University of Oxford’s archaeological and anthropological collections, including everything from totem poles to skulls. If you can manage to eat after that, there’s a decent cafe, too. 

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