This is an annual event. We went yesterday and it was a lovely atmosphere. It is held on actual…read moreallotments. Very reminiscent of country fetes that used to be held in someone's (huge) village garden. Was worth being stuck in traffic forever on our 1 1/2 hour journey there. Huw Lloyd-Langton (formerly of Hawkwind) kindly donated his time again, and this was who we went to see really. The Assassins of Science also did a 40 min set with Huw joining them in some numbers. The Elder Stubbs Festival is a highlight of the Cowley calendar, bringing together allotment holders, members of the Elder Stubbs Garden Group, artists, musicians craftspeople and the public at large from all over the local area in a celebration of work and talents. Two stages allow for musical and poetic expression, and many stalls throughout the site represent local organisations involved in social and environmental work. Fresh vegetables, plants and homemade jams and pickles are available if you get there fast enough, and refreshments are also sold on site. Book stalls, plants, face painting, organic produce amongst others. Hot veggie food and meat stuff. Families. Twisted tree sculptures. Arts, crafts, poetry. The Elder Stubbs Festival began as a small event (2000+ visitors each year now) thirteen years ago as a joint venture between Elder Stubbs and RESTORE as an attempt to generate community support for projects. This proved a great success, and the large amounts of publicity generated have meant it has become a fixture in local life, raising money for RESTORE and the profile of both organisations. There is now strong competition to play on both stages! One of a funniest highlights was the fly past by The RED BARROWS! Team members running round the site in a line pushing red wheelbarrows. Elder Stubbs Festival is special: animals for petting, magicians, belly dancers, bagpipers, weavers, martial artists, poets and rock stars standing shoulder to shoulder amongst flowers, sculptures and vegetables. Set on the Elder Stubbs allotment site, there was a diverse array of attractions from performing arts and workshops to stalls, speakers, children's activities and the vegetable show, as well as a wide choice of foods. Around 50 different stallholders use the festival as a forum to share information about local groups and organisations, sell home-made goods, run an activity or vend an assortment of world cuisines. All proceeds are to charity (£1 entrance fee. Bit of info/history: Elder Stubbs Charity is the proud owner and manager of Elder Stubbs Allotments, at Rymers Lane in Cowley, Oxford. The site is a leading example of the successful reinvention of allotment management, and provides a working model for the involvement of disparate members of the local community in city land use. It provides over 100 allotments for local residents. In addition it has diversified by letting tenancies to other charities with similar aims to itself. Notable amongst these are The Porch Steppin' Stone project which cultivates an area of land to grow the organic vegetables used at its day-centre to provide meals for the long-term unemployed, and the Elder Stubbs Garden Group, part of RESTORE, which cultivates 2 acres as an organic market-garden and orchard run as an horticultural therapy project for people recovering from mental illness. Elder Stubbs Allotments were an award to the poor of Cowley under the Inclosure Act of 1852 in compensation for the enclosure and subsequent loss of their Common on Shotover. 150 years later the charity still provides over 100 allotments for local residents. In addition it has diversified by letting tenancies to other charities with similar aims to itself. Really worth a look next year for something different.

I wish Id known about this earlier definately would have gone,will check it out for next year,thanxread more

For two days in early September, after the summer tourists have gone home and before the students…read moreget back, the people of Oxford celebrate. I'm not quite sure what we celebrate but it is great fun. I no longer go on rides that swing you high in the air or turn you upside down but if you are young enough to enjoy that sort of thing then there is something special about catching glimpses of secret court-yards, quadrangles and lawns behind the yellow walls of the colleges just before you are flung upside down again or hurled towards the ground. For the more sedentary of us there are more traditional rides such as the wonderful merry-go-round and helter skelter. Or you can just wander around enjoying the sights, sounds (and it can be very noisy), smells and tastes (sugar cane as well as candy floss last year) Rumour has it that the rides are longer in the afternoon before it gets busy. If you aren't going to the fair then be warned that all the buses that normally go along St Giles are diverted for 2 days and the road is closed to traffic.

Evolved from a 17th-century parish wake, St Giles fair is a yearly spectacle in the centre of…read moreOxford. Every September excitement grows as bigger and better rides are added to the substantial collection of fairground attractions. Our Oxford teams love this annual event.

A very very special theatre. Children of all ages will love the shows.read more

Don't do it - crap place.read more

We didn't know about The Model Village when we visited Bourton-on-the-Water, and it ended up being…read moreone of the most memorable parts about our recent visit. We both agreed we could have spent more time than we had here, because there really is SO MUCH to look at! The Model Village is, apparently, the only grade II listed model village in the country; it's a one-ninth scale of the actual village (...and, there's a model village WITHIN the model village, too) and features incredible craftsmanship. Every detail is so thoughtfully remembered and recreated: music playing from within the church, the five bridges, an actual running water feature, and all the many, different species of trees. The attention to detail (opening signs on windows, tiny animals in barns, little breads at the bakery) is incredible. Charming and well-maintained, this model village gave us a richer appreciation of Bourton-on-the-water itself!

I find the concept of making a model village of a village that includes its own model village to be…read moredarling. The craftsmanship is really nice, and there's a lot of attention to detail for the buildings. It was fun to walk around and admire all the different details, including the model of the model because the model IS a part of the town. This doesn't take too long to do, but on a nice day, it's a cheap price and a unique place to visit.

great place to relax and take some time out and enjoy the theatre. Fun for all the family and all…read moreages. all sorts of stage play and to enjoy a good night out

You know Wallace and Gromit right? Well they were created right here (well at their old studios…read morethat burnt down) but they live here now! Animators/businessmen Nick Park and David Sproxton have done themselves proud with a new site for the stupendous studios. Now they've got themselves a proper place to house their Oscars for model animation. And man, have they done them all. As well as the aforementioned dog and man in their various adventures, they've done Morph, Creature Comforts, Chicken Run, Shaun the Sheep and Timmy Time, and, bizarrely, Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer video. They've also filmed commercials and promos. Oh how I love 'em and their cute plasticine figures. Aardman entertain, provide humour, employ local people, create beautiful films and works of art with their progressive technology. All this fun and creativity stemming from little old Bristol. Aren't we lucky!

Many a Christmas of my youth was spent with the family huddled around the television watching the…read morelatest Wallace and Gromit episode. A source of much Bristolian pride, Aardman Animations are responsible for them, as well as the popular creature comforts series (the one with all the talking animals). Aardman do a good trade in slightly off the wall family animation and have been enjoying major success over the last few years, taking a clutch of Oscars for their feature length Wallace and Gromit films. They've also been venturing into computer animation with the release of Flushed Away. If you've ever watched a behind the scenes on Wallace and Gromit, you'll know why they only get a release out every few years. It takes hours of painstaking work, gently moving the arms of tiny little plasticine models millimetre by millimetre just to get a few seconds of shot. Very skilled stuff and you can see that they must be mad about animation to spend all day doing this. All the success is starting to show, and they've moved into a new purpose built building, a welcome change to the warehouses and flats that populate Spike Island (the land sliced up Bristol harbour that the building sits on). Just wondering into the lobby is a fantastic way to see these innovative people at work.

Bulldog Bash 2009 - didn't manage to get in to see the event itself, but why should that minor…read moredetail stop a Qype review? Reason was that £55 entrance fee too steep - (OK, this would be a very fair price for a weekend of head banging - Motorhead thrown in for the ultimate bleeding eardrum experience - boozing and V twin harmonic earmashing, but the price is OTT for a quick nose around just to clock up some Qype points) - did give it a go to get in cheaper for a quick mooch but the tattoed (but friendly) gatekeepers not impressed - reckoned they wouldn't see me for the next 2 days. No good arguments worked - even offered to leave them with the Brompton as colateral - they just laughed and said it had no engine and was worth nothing - huh. So, make do with watching the biking cavalcade arriving - amazing - from all over Britain and Europe - all sorts of bikes and trikes - some weird, some menacing, some normal, some so shiny and pearlescent, should wear welders goggles to look at them direct on - a fantastic sight and sound - don't need to be a biker to appreciate all that. A perfect location too - middle of nowhere - an old airfield - even sounds like squadrans of B52 bombers coming in to land. Downside - a lot of fuss made by the local fuzz - even stopping pedal cyclists from following legitimate National Sustrans cycle paths for no clear reason other than seemingly to show their authority. Speaking to the locals round Stratford, general comments were that police appear to be out of touch with the community that supports them. How to get to the Bash? Bike it, obviously. Or, if at all worried by your carbon footprint (tyreprint?) then a return train from Birmingham Moor Street is around £8.50 - a great price for a direct journey to Stratford, just about 1 every hour, on the half hour - take a bike (bicycle, not your Harley Chopper, silly) on for nothing with plenty of room in the special carriages - or hire a bike in Stratford for the day. Cruise around the town on pedal power, head down to the river front, have an early breakfast or perhaps make a massive decision to choose whether to have a Costa or a Nero Americano with hot milk - tough one - maybe take it down to the barge front and sit watching the people, ducks and swans in the early morning sunshine before the crowds arrive - nice. Follow the river bank on the theatre side where it's possible, towards the hauntingly beautiful riverside graveyard of the Holy Trinity Church, to best appreciate the georgeous tree lined river views. Then back round to the 'Stratford Greenway' ( http://www.sustrans.org.uk/sustrans-near-you/midlands/easy-rides-in-the-midlands/stratford-greenway ). This was a railtrack and is now a perfect, easy cycle highway into the countryside south of Stratford - wonderful country and river views and meeting lots of friendly walking and cycling folk, just like you and me of course. There are even 2 railway carriage cafes along the route to provide essential refreshments and bike hire if required ( http://www.stratfordbikehire.com/index.php?id=50 ). And, what do you know - this path takes you directly towards Long Marston airfield and the Bash, where the story started. Not very far - gentle, flat, cycle ride - just do note that due to possible obstructive policing, you might be forced to take a more dangerous road detour to reach the entrance to the airfield. Retrace steps (pedal backwards maybe) to get back to Stratford or shoot along the heavily trafficked B4632 (quicker but probably not recommended on bicycle http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&rlz=1C1CHMB_en-GB... (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&rlz=1C1CHMB_en-GBGB335GB339&ei=Wrh8SvCSLoeG-Qa7_qg5&resnum=0&q=long%20marston&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl) ). Fantastic day out - highly recommeded. Hope this is useful.

Yes! I love planetariums! The night sky is a damn beautiful thing, and planetariums are a great…read moreplace to learn a little more. Pay £1.50 for the privilege for adults, I'm not sure how much for children, sorry, and queue up on the third floor. The seats are comfy, filling from the middle where the best view is. The show isn't too long, and gives you an idea of the night sky on the night that you watch the show, visible planets, constellations and where to look for them, with the zodiacs marked in red. The voice is clear, but there are a couple of stumbles that they were too lazy to re-record, come on, think tank! There's also a nice section on the ISS with Tim peak too. Two things: One, there are a couple of dizzy bits, not too bad, but something to think about if you suffer badly. Two, please, for everyone's sake, control your kids, it's not fair if they're kicking off, running around and talking, and you will get ejected for it.

Many of us I'm sure remember visits to the Planetariums of yester-year where a big ball of light in…read morethe centre shone a pattern of stars above and all around. Well things have certainly moved on, as my recent visits to the Thinktank Planetarium or, 'Fulldome' (to use the up-to-date name) have confirmed. The old star-ball that I remember being in the middle of Planetarium domes has disappeared and been replaced with state-of-the-art digital projectors and computers. So instead of sitting and watching a fixed pattern of stars in the night sky I held onto my seat as I orbited the moon, flew past constellations, across entire galaxies and was still back home for tea time! Gone seem to be the days when all you would see at a Planetarium were Astronomy and Space films, as a quick visit to the Thinktank's Planetarium web site told me. I found the best place to check out all the latest events was the Thinktank Planetarium's own Facebook page. With interesting and buzzing contributions from over 3,000 followers I found it well worth visiting and re-visiting. When night time comes the Thinktank Planetarium are throwing open their doors open to put on shows featuring a new breed of Fulldome films now being made by creative people locally and world-wide. I have now been to a couple of these night time shows and can say without a doubt they are something special. The hosts are likeable and enthusiastic with a passion for what they are doing and this really adds to the experience. In the interval we had a drink in the IMAX, 'I-Bar'. The Millennium point complex also houses a full-on giant screen IMAX cinema which made me think of combining a visit to the Planetarium Fulldome with an IMAX visit to see the latest 3D blockbuster like Pirates 4! The experience of watching these new films I found quite difficult to explain to my freinds. Whether it's the music of Pink Floyd set to amazing visuals or any of the other prize-winning Fulldome films now being shown, I was transported somewhere new and exiting. The experience can be very immersive and that's why after my first visit to a Thinktank Fulldome show I never quite viewed a normal cinema film screening in the same way - not even the IMAX! As Morpheus said to Neo in the Martix, " No one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself" The same can be said about the Thinktank Planetarium Fulldome. So why not, "Take the red pill" and give it a try, you won't be disappointed!

What an amazing place! We happened to see this museum as we…read morewere walking by and were intrigued by their moving signage. Inside there are plenty of machines that whir and perform small tasks or even make music. Lots of interactive things to see and do, buttons to push, pedals to press, even a magnetic marble track you can build yourself! It's a treat for young and old and definitely worth the small entry fee.

The opening hours are stated for October to March. Opening hours from April to September are a…read morelittle longer (10:30 to 18:30 daily). A friend recommended this place to me thinking that my boys would like it. My friend was right! We did all enjoy the interactive displays. The extent of the interactivity is mainly pressing a button though but it's still good. There is an interesting range of mechanical art and my boys and I were fascinated by the mechanisms. It is quite a small place. It cost £19 for the four of us (2 adults and 2 children) which isn't too bad but, considering we spent less than an hour in there and saw everything, it does seem a little expensive. There are two floors. One very small room on each floor displaying different pieces of art. It can get rather crowded due to the small size, especially downstairs where the entrance/exit is the same. In the same small area, there is a counter where there is a single member of staff who both admits people and serves the gift shop. The gift shop is basically a small portion of the wall within the ground floor of the museum. Many items are over-priced and the selection is very limited. We did enjoy ourselves there and would recommend it but it could get claustrophobic and the upstairs can be noisy (although it does state this on the signage).