Tank Museum Visit

We went to the Tank Museum in Bovington with the girls and Grace’s best friend Sam. It was actually our present to Sam for his birthday.

As a family over the last few years we. have really valued experiences over purchasing toys as presents. With 5 girls we found that Christmas, Birthdays and celebrations meant they received a lot of toys and presents and yet the things they remembered and treasured the most were experiences. Alina still talks about an open top bus ride she did with her eldest sister Kiesha 4 years ago!

Early Start

We, well, Mark wanted to leave early, I had managed to negotiate a 7 – 7.30am leave time. It would still give us time to collect Sam and get breakfast en-route, something the girls were particularly keen on and certainly sweetened the up and out early situation. The girls are always awake pretty early anyway it is the more the being ready bit that can be a struggle.

The Tank Museum

The Tank Museum had plenty of parking and was easy to navigate to the entrance.  The queueing system was also fairly quick considering we went during half term.  Before you begin the tour there is a model and drawings of the first Tank design by Leonardo DaVinci was was so fascinating and already sparked off great discussion.  

After that it was pretty much Mark’s domain, he was in his element and both Sam and the girls were treasuring every mooment, it was such a joy to witness.

The Tank Museum

I really enjoyed learning more of the history and the stories from the veterans were so powerful and very emotional.  Alina was petrified in the trenches section. She really finds it challenging and gets upset and also struggles with loud noises.  I am surprised she didn’t break Mark’s fingers she was holding onto his hand so tight.  She really did start to appreciate the history though and asked questions and got involved which was great to see.

You Need a Day

There is so much to see and take in that you definitely need a day, if not more.  We will definitely go back again.  The Museum is divided into sections sharing the evolution and history in date order.  The girls and Sam were more into the Tanks while I was fascinated by the memorabilia, stories, letters and just how incredibly brave, ingenious and totally selfless many of the people were and the pivotal roles they played.

Inside a Tank

Some of the areas the girls and Sam seemed to enjoy the most were the inside of the Tanks, being able to go and really experience what it is like, the size etc… had them buzzing.

They looked for their Uncle’s name in the Afghanistan section which again was another emotional moment.

World of Tanks

They also got to try playing World of Tanks which had mixed reactions.  I think if they had experienced it on the playstation they would have enjoyed it more, controlling the Tanks via keyboard did not seem to be as intuitive.

Would we recommend it?

All in all we would definitely recommend it as a day out.  It is a great learning opportunity and creates many conversation opportunities even long after you have left.  It was a shame we did not really get to experience the show in the way we had wished due to the rain but they still learnt some more facts none the less.

If you would like to go there are a few things that we would recommend

• Plan for the day, there is a lot to see
• Wear layers, the temperature throughout the buildings really fluctuated
• If you want to utilise the soft play area avoid lunch time, there is limited seating
• Raincoats are a good shout if weather changes for the show (like it did for us!)
• The food is more on the pricey side so you may wish to take your own