Visiting Sth London sites

[sparrow]

I'm flying to London for 3 nights on the 3rd August to attend the Iron Maiden gig, and have a couple of days to spare. Flying into Heathrow, picking up a car, and staying in Dartford, so looking for places to visit that I wouldn't normally be able to do easily on public transport on my regular London trips. Havn't done the Bomber Command Memorial yet, but trying to avoid going into the city this time if I can.

I have done the 'main' stuff in London, so looking for anything else of interest within about 1-2hrs of Dartford. On the list so far are Runnymede and Brooklands. Thinking of maybe the Shoreham Aircraft Museum and/or Lashenden Air Warfare Museum, however, these are only open Sat/Sun and I'm staying with folk I havn't seen in 14yrs, so may be a bit rude to bugger off on the Sunday for the day. Trying to make it look like I'm visiting them, and not just using as a hotel!

Anyone have any suggestions? More than happy to take any photos for anyone, eg names at Runnymede, specific aircraft or parts of at Brooklands, etc.

[nuuumannn]

Hi Sparrow, I'm surprised no one else has given you any recommendations yet, but if it isn't too late, you could go to Brooklands, which is well worth it; there is the Loch Ness Wellington, a Concorde and other interesting airframes as well as a great collection of cars, Brooklands being a former racetrack. Shoreham is a neat little airfield and the terminal and control tower are original from the 1930s. In the small museum there are bits of Arnim Faber's Fw 190, which he landed by accident in Wales in 1942. In West Sussex is the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum, which has a good collection of aircraft and not far from Tangmere is Goodwood, the racing track, which used to be Westhampnett, Tangmere's satellite.

The problem is not what there might be to see, but what you are going to choose, since there are a host of places to go around the south coast within an hour's drive of you. Enjoy the Iron maiden concert!

[sparrow]

Thanks mate.

I only managed to get to Brooklands and Runnymede in the end, but really enjoyed them, both worth a visit. Was great seeing the Wellington, and I although not a great fan of civil aviation, I really enjoyed the Concorde experience. Theres a section of Wellington you can walk through, which I did more than once. They were doing vintage sports car rides for £1, so I left that 'til last, planning on doing 1 in each car, but it bloody rained and they put them away. There was a group of Germans arriving on vintage motorbikes as I arrived, and they looked pretty cool. I found my cousins name at Runnymede, so that was good.

Slightly related, we did the tour of Shepherd Neame Brewery, home of 'Spitfire' ale, and they had a great selection of their various adverts on display and in the shop, on coasters, etc.

Iron Maiden were just out of this World, was awesome when they came out for the encore kicking off with 'Churchills speech' at the start of 'Aces High' and hearing those merlins start up! I bought a tour t-shirt, choosing the Aces High one, with 'Tailgunner' on the back. I havn't worn an IM t-shirt in about 25yrs, and can't honestly see me wearing it, but it was a good idea at the time!

[nuuumannn]

Great Sparrow, glad to hear you had a terrific time - and that you found your cousin's name at Runnymeade. I'd love to see Maiden again one more time. I'm envious you got to see them! The last time I saw them was when Blaze Bailey was the lead singer!