Hey, I’m comin’ at ya with another post on the same day as my previous post! That doesn’t happen often, so don’t get too used to it. 🙂 But while I’m between stuff I’m doing today, I figured I’d fill you in on my Saturday in London.

Right off the bat, the weather was perfect! Although Friday’s weather didn’t end up being too bad, Saturday’s was sublime in terms of sun (tons of it), rain (none of it), wind (none of it), and temp (pretty perfect – about 60° F). Sounds like the perfect day to do something outside, right? Lucky for me, I got to (somewhat) do that. Matt had to head back to Hove later in the day so he could be home by 5 PM, so we still had a good chunk of the day to do some more exploring. Of course, we couldn’t agree on what to do as we both suggested museums that the other one wasn’t very interested in. 😀 But then Matt saved the day by reminding me that we had already talked about a visit to Gunnersbury Park & Museum! Not only did this solve the dilemma of where to go, but it also let us take advantage of the weather because, as the name suggests, the museum is in a park, so we got to bask in the glorious weather AND be geeky with a neat exhibit inside the museum. Perfect! The only drawback is that it’s not hugely close to Shoreditch, but it is easily reachable via Aldgate East and a 45ish-minute journey to Acton Town. That still gave us plenty of time for Matt’s train though, so we went for it.

Although the mansion in the park that houses the museum dates back to the 1800s, it’s not the original estate to occupy this spot. In fact, there’s been an estate in what is now the park for many centuries, with owners and tenants such as the Bishop of London and Princess Amelia, daughter of King George II. The house Amelia lived in was sold a couple of times after her death and was ultimately torn down in 1801 and a couple of estates were built in place of it. Over time, the Small Mansion (as it was known) was acquired by the Rothschild family, who continued to snatch up the land around it (which had been parceled out) to reconstitute the original Gunnersbury. It was then later sold to the London boroughs of Ealing and Acton and the grounds were subsequently opened as a park (1926), while the mansion was opened as an exhibition space (1929). A large restoration was just completed a few years ago (2018) and I’m glad it was here for us to visit in 2024. It would never have been on my radar, but for my friend Tony, who recently shared photos of the Set to Stun exhibit on his Facebook page. That’s what originally made Matt and I think of it as a place to go, until I forgot about it and Matt had to remind me. But we made it in the end!

Truth be told, there isn’t actually a huge amount of stuff to see in the museum, either in Set to Stun or in the building overall. But as a piece of architecture, it’s interesting, plus the park is great for walking around in nice weather (there were tons of people visiting with their dogs while we were there). I think the building would be a lot more interesting to tour with a guide who could tell you more about the history, etc., but as it is, we still enjoyed our visit. And as an added bonus, both the museum and Set to Stun are free! With a name like Set to Stun, you might have guessed that this particular exhibit is a bit geeky, and you’d be right as it’s all about filming and designing sci-fi content in the local area. As Doctor Who fans, we were happy to see some good Who content, though there’s also stuff from Red Dwarf, Star Cops, and other TV shows and films. There’s also some neat toys and historical stuff to see throughout the museum, so it’s somewhat eclectic. I know we both found it interesting! Check out the pictures and see what you think.

Of course, I immediately zeroed in on this Voc robot from the Doctor Who story The Robots of Death.

More Doctor Who stuff! This is a Dalek from the story Remembrance of the Daleks.

This case had all sorts of Doctor Who goodies in it! Amongst the books and toys are a couple of things to note. First is a hat and ring worn by William Hartnell, the first actor to play the Doctor (in the role 1963-1966). The second is a K9 toy, which I included here because I’ve always wanted one of them. 🙂

The case also contains a full-size Cyberman costume! This one is from the 1967 story The Moonbase.

Another case featured screen-used props and visual effects items, including a couple of TARDISes and a mask worn by actor Terry Molloy when he played Davros (creator of the Daleks). This small TARDIS was used in the 1993 Doctor Who charity special Dimensions in Time.

More props used in stories such as The Armageddon Factor and Castrovalva.

A couple of photos of the park. If we’d had more time, it would have been nice to walk around the whole park in the nice weather. What we did see was very nice though! Given the opportunity to walk through the park, it’s probably best to plan your Gunnersbury visit during nice weather.

Knowing it would take us a little while to get back into central London and then back to our hotel so Matt could grab his bag, we decided to head back at this point, though we still had time for a quick stop at Forbidden Planet, which I visit every time I’m in London. The store was actually really busy, so kind of hard to navigate, which was only slightly annoying. Neither of us bought anything, but I did see a few things I was interested in, so I’ll likely make a return visit sometime before I leave. Even though I often don’t actually buy anything there, it’s a fun place to visit to see fun Doctor Who and TV/merchandise. I’ve found movies, audiobooks, film-based coffee table books, and more over the years. Definitely recommend it if you’re a media fan (not just a sci-fi/Doctor Who fan!).

We did still have time to have lunch at Pizza Express before heading back to the hotel! Hey, it’s always a favorite of mine and thankfully most friends I’ve taken there have enjoyed it, too. If you have a favorite pizza spot in London though, I’m always open to suggestions, so please leave a comment below! The entire area around Trafalgar Square/Charing Cross was absolutely slammed with people though, thanks to a Free Palestine protest, which I think happen there every weekend. I’ve been in London when it’s busy, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen THAT many people around (the weekend in general has been quite busy in terms of crowds, likely because of it being Easter weekend).

Okay, we really had to get back to the hotel at this point so Matt could get his stuff and catch his train. While he didn’t end up making the one he was hoping to, there was another one 30 minutes later that he did get, so he made it home just after 6 PM (after his intended return of 5 PM, but before the delivery he was waiting on arrived!). As for me, I decided to chill at the hotel as I was a bit tired (my brain wasn’t interested in sleeping the previous night, for some reason), so I edited photos and watched a bit of TV. I did go back into the city (well, further into it as Shoreditch is very much in the city) for a bit of wandering, which I always find relaxing. Since I was still kind of tired, I didn’t stay out too late, so I found my way back to the hotel around 8 PM for more relaxing, TV watching, and blogging. It was a nice, chill way to end a couple of busy days with friends!

And now you’re up to date! Well, for a short time, since it’s Sunday late afternoon now, so there will be more to say soon. Check back soon as I continue to enjoy my time in London!