A visit to the Royal Mews

Another snowy start. Off to London again.  Cheap train ticket paid for with vouchers from previously delayed trains - bonus - there always has to be a silver lining to travel delays!

The Royal Mews is open all year with some exceptions, and is fairly cheap at £8.50 an adult.  It's small with only a few coaches to see, but it is worth it.  The glass coach used for weddings, the state coaches for the opening of parliament.  The Australian coach is a modern dream and yet looks as old as the others.  There is also a huge Rolls Royce and the tack room to see.

It's a working place, I felt quite privileged to be there really.  It still amazes me that these places that were once so sacred now allow us plebs to trudge around them.

There were only a few horses there, the stables were mostly empty.  But the horses that were there were so beautiful.  I have no idea why I took a photo of an empty stable and not a beautiful horse.  As COG says 'you're weird mum'.  I wondered if they would look at the nags at our local riding school with disdain or whether they would just be normal animals and frolic in the fields with them anyway.  Apparently the horses were all at Hampton Court doing what horses like to do over a bucket of fizz and soft tones of Barry White wafting over the hay bales.  They will be back at the Mews in the summer.  Which is ok because if you get your ticket stamped you can go back as many times as you like in the year.

The main reason the £8.50 is worth paying is to see this.

 It is enormous. It is beautifully breathtaking.  It is quite incredible. It's the Coronation Coach.

Oh yes, note the total lack of people there.  Yup - we were lucky enough to be 2 of 6 people that were  in there in the whole time we were there.  That's what happens when you go on cold snowy days out of season I guess!

If you want a few 'I woulds': there were no queues when I was there but there are only 2 ticket desks so if you get the chance I would get your ticket on the web in advance.  It's not a timed ticket so it won't matter what time you actually arrive.  There are toilets in there that you can go to as soon as you are in, so don't worry about having to use the public loos before you get there.  There isn't a coffee shop, so if you plan on doing this before your timed ticket to Buckingham Palace you've a long wait for one.  If I was doing both, I would do the house first.  I used the free audio guide and found it really interesting, I recommend it.

How weird is this picture - I obviously pressed the button as the camera was in my hand but how strange is the bulls eye glass effect, I quite like it.



So, we had another good day out.  From the Mews we walked up to Westminster Abbey but by the time we got there we were too cold to queue to go in, so we did what all 'ladies what lunch' do and went to Harrods for a cuppa and a burger!   Now there's posh for you.

We wandered down to the V&A for another warming cuppa and to look in the fashion gallery for a while.

And back to St Pancras to catch the train home with HWMBO.  I'm sure he loved our chatter on the way home after his intense day at the office, no really.  No you are right....tired office workers and tourists on the train are not a good mix.  Apologies to all the 5:15 from Londoners who had no desire to hear all about the carriages.