It’s been a while, but I seem to have got my blogging mojo back. And, luckily, we were invited to a family event at the wonderful BBC Earth Experience in London over half term, so I have something to write about! A must for wildlife fans, the BBC Earth Experience is housed in the purpose-built Daikin Centre in in Earls Court, a couple of minutes walk from West Brompton tube station. The area outside the building features sports facilities (padel, volleyball and table tennis) among the pollinator planting, plus several street food vendors. On entering the building, you’ll find lockers and a buggy park, so you can enjoy the immersion unencumbered, plus toilets and water refill station.
The main gallery comprises huge screens showing highlights from the Seven Worlds, One Planet series, and moves from one continent to another, with narration from the wonderful Sir David Attenborough. There is fixed seating dotted around, plus a plethora of beanbags (which Alfie and Kitty thought could have been squishier!) You can walk around, but initially we chose to stay in one place and it was pretty impressive to see some of the best wildlife filming you’ll ever see on floor-to-ceiling screens. In addition, there are two side galleries exploring sea life and insects, plus a balcony (great view of the whole experience from up there) with smaller screens featuring baby animals. I think we were there for just over 90 minutes and managed to see everything and explore the shop, but there’s no limit on how long you can stay. We combined with a few hours at The Science Museum, as it’s only a 30-minute walk (or short tube hop) from South Kensington.
Tickets cost £19 for adults and £15 for children, although under 3s go free and newly launched activity booklets are available for littlies, including a Hey Duggee one, which seemed to go down well with the small children we saw. Disclaimer: we were there at an after-hours event, so it didn’t feel busy, but I can’t testify to how it is during the day. Alfie (14) and Kitty (11) are both big BBC nature documentary fans, so it got a big thumbs up from them, apart from the comfort of the beanbags, of course!
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