Travels with a toddler: The Cotswold Motoring Museum

The Cotswolds in early autumn was resplendent. Bright, warm colours, quaint village scenes, golden willow boughs bending to brush the water of rushing streams and all the other bucolic autumnal things you can imagine. Jem and I arrived in the village of Bourton-on-the-Water imagining that it would be a little known, pretty little village - we were wrong! This pretty little village was certainly not unknown to the coachloads of visitors from home and abroad. I had already found that in this part of the world everyone seems to drive 10mph slower than anywhere else, but now, I was actually mainly moving at 0mph to avoid maiming the innocent tourists who had to stand in the very middle of the narrow village road in order to get the perfect selfie. (To be quite fair we did the exact same thing a couple of hours later and I would heartily recommend it.) The thing about being a tourist in autumn is that sometimes you find yourself to be the only visitor to a place, and, while that sounds ideal, I actually find it pretty awkward. Anyway, I took the crowds of visitors as nothing but a good sign.

We had come to meet up with my old friend Emma and to visit the Cotswold Motoring Museum. Emma and I both felt a little silly that we - the girls - would be visiting a car museum without our partners, but there was something about Brum on the publicity material so we couldn't miss it.

Naturally, though being in a pretty little village with probably the highest concentration of tearooms per square mile I've ever seen, we decided that we simply must go for tea before and after. People, you haven't lived until you've sipped tea and eaten a smoked salmon sandwich while surrounded by pretty mismatched vintage crockery and furniture. Even Jem loved it - and he's not one for sitting around while I sip tea.

The motoring museum was amazing. This has to be one of the most interesting, well put together and one of the most fun museums I have ever been to. It is crammed full of exhibits documenting not only the motor cars but also the wider culture and social history of the 20th century. Some of the assets have been meticulously restored so as to be spotless. Others are displayed approximately 'as found' which allows the visitor to see something of the backstory. Many of the exhibits are shown with stories about who used them - some written by the owners themselves. Besides cars there were motorbikes, motoring accessories, bicycles, signage, the list could go on. We even saw actual Brum - Emma was somewhat starstruck. I cannot do justice in writing to how much of a treasure trove this is. The best part for Jem was that not only does the museum include a toy collection, but it has an adorable little play area, including a play-garage and a chance to drive Brum!

Having exhausted ourselves in the museum we retreated to another tearoom, where over tea and cake I managed to become Emma's first customer. Emma is an artist and has recently started offering drawings on commission. She made me two pieces, one of Jem and I together, that she drew from a photo on my phone, and another of Jem taken from life. I've had them framed now, and I think they're absolutely incredible. This is her professional facebook page - please check it out and give her a 'like'.

So in conclusion, I would like to move to Bourton-on-the-Water.

Apologies that you can see me in the reflection - but doesn't he look cute?!