Since Florence was 7 and a half months old we’ve been visiting a little place I know called ‘Discover‘ in Stratford. It bills itself as an interactive story centre and museum for children but we think it’s that and so, so very much more!

Our very first visit when Florence was tiny!

We quickly became members because it’s super value for money (we pay £60 for SIX members of the family and that gives us unlimited access for a whole year – under two’s are FREE) and we make a trip there most weeks. In the winter we spend a lot of time in the soft play close to our house but we never visit in the summer because it’s such a shame to be indoors. ‘Discover’, however, is a venue for all seasons. As well as wonderfully interactive and exciting areas in doors there is a beautifully enchanting garden with secret nooks and crannies, musical instruments, climbing frames, a gigantic slide, a tree house, a climbing wall, totem poles… Well, you’d have to see it to believe it really…

Inside and the magic continues. I say magic because it is a place which exudes just that! A totally magical place to be and not just for the children. There are places to sit quietly and read (books galore are there to be loved), an area for craft work, things to climb on, slide down, perform in, on and to, buttons to push, sounds to hear and record, trails to follow, lights to dance on… I could go on. And on. And on… We particularly enjoy joining in for story times and listening to one of the superb story tellers read (hmmm, perhaps perform would be a better description) a brilliant story. They have rooms downstairs with comfy bean bags to sit quietly and listen but if it’s a glorious day perhaps the stories will be under a gazebo outside…

You can spend an afternoon, an hour (although that’s NEVER enough) or (more often for us) the whole day there. ‘Discover’ have an inexpensive cafe on site but welcome picnics and there are plenty of places to eat them both in and outside. We take something yummy with us, buy a coffee and watch the children grin from ear to ear as they craft, read and play. As a Mum it’s one of the most relaxing days out while the children get thoroughly worn out – they absolutely love it. Since Florence has been of an age to voice opinion I can’t think of a time where she has left willingly and will throw backward glances all the way down the street. For as long as I can remember she shouts and jumps up and down when the tube stops in Stratford hoping always that we are getting off to go to ‘Discover’. This is a child who visits pretty much weekly and if she was going to get bored with it, would have certainly done so by now… There is no way, I think, that she could ever get bored with ‘Discover’, no matter how many visits we make!

Some of our fave pics from ‘Discover’!

So all that and I haven’t even told you about the exhibition space downstairs yet… When we first visited it was ‘Charlie and Lola’s House’. Florence was tiny but we had so much fun playing down there and were sorely disappointed when they said it was changing to ‘Monsters’. ‘Monsters’ opened and grumblingly we went to see if it was a patch on ‘Charlie and Lola’ and it turned out that it was even better… Then when ‘Monsters’ came to the end of it’s time we actually shed a tear. Florence was JUST the right age to really start playing on her own and my friends and I would sit on the bench watching as they ran wild in this exhibition which had a monster beauty salon, cafe, fishing pond and bandstand amongst other things! But then ‘Superheroes’ opened it’s doors and yet again we found ourselves falling in love with the exhibition we were annoyed was replacing the previous one we had loved so much… ‘Superheroes’ was awesome, a whole mini city with a car, shops, building site, the lot! We adored it and yet again, un-trusting as we were, we felt really peeved when we were told it was closing to open up as something else…

‘Charlie and Lola’s House’ was replaced by ‘Monsters’ and then it became ‘Superheroes’…

So… What has become of the area now that ‘Superheroes’ has closed? Well, we were invited to the launch party on Thursday night and I’m VERY happy to report that the new exhibition, ‘Journey to Space‘ is even more thrilling and exciting than ever before… How they keep making it better and better is beyond me and goodness knows what they can do next to top this one because it actually took my breath away when we entered!

The mood is set as you go down the stairs to the exhibiition with stars and planets hanging in the stairwell!

Down the windy stairs from the main area, stars and planets hang from the ceiling – we were already ‘in the zone’! Then through the new entrance to the exhibition space and we were greeted by the control centre of a space ship from where we could navigate our journey through the galaxy! Seriously…

As you enter the exhibition a space ship control centre is the first thing you come to! How cool is this!

Florence immediately donned one of the new fancy dress ‘space man’ suits and was off! She was reading in the quiet and carpeted area before I could even blink, flicking through the new ‘space’ themed story books she’d not seen before and choosing which ones she wanted to read with me first. Jimmy touched the soft carpet and just grinned as he explored the new area.

The perfect space for reading and lots of sensory play for tiny tots like Jimmy!

Next had to be a reccy of the rest of the exhibition and running through black hole tunnels lit with fairy lights while bounding on craters of the moon surface, we discovered we don’t miss ‘Superheroes’ at all!

C’mon Mummy! There’s lots to explore!

The black hole is super fun!

As is playing on the craters of the moon’s surface!

We had so much fun and STILL didn’t explore as much as we could have done… Next time!

It was time to stop for a party cocktail! Well even the busiest of space cowboys need a rest!

Before a chill out in the area for stories! I love the attention to detail ‘Discover’ always adds. Even the ceiling is interesting!

We LOVE ‘Journey to Space’ and everything it has to offer and can’t wait to get in there again! The staff at ‘Discover’ make the experience and I just know that their new stories, to go with the ‘Space’ theme, will be superb! We had such a good time at the launch party too, so thank you ‘Discover’ for inviting us! Florence and I enjoyed our cocktails very much, hers was alcohol free obviously and she thought it was fab! We’ll be back of course, and we couldn’t be more pleased with the new ‘exhibition’! Every City deserves a ‘Discover’ but London is the only one lucky enough to have one! And boy are we lucky!

The staff are always really friendly. totally ‘into’ their jobs and they make the children’s time at ‘Discover’ that extra bit more special!

Florence had a ‘space-tastic’ time!

I have not been paid in any way or been given free tickets to write this post. I am passionate about ‘Discover’ in Stratford where we are annual members. ‘Discover’ is charity funded and I write about it because I genuinely think it’s a very important and brilliant place for children to visit, if you’ve not been then make sure you do, especially if you have a budding little astronaut, you won’t be disappointed!