Farewell to the River & Rowing Museum

I blogged about it before, back in early July: the River & Rowing Museum in Henley will close down this weekend. As we live fairly close to we went there a few times, obviously not often enough. I had bought a year pass in January 2020, thinking I would make my return on investment within three visits, I only used it once, for obvious reasons. I don't think we will visit it before it closes, but I hope something nice and available to the general public will open in its stead. Because the venue was really lovely too.

River & Rowing Museum (RIP)

My wife and I learned some very sad news recently: the River & Rowing Museum in Henley is closing down. We used to go there occasionally, before and after we became parents. The last time was in... January 2020. I had bought a yearly pass, having calculated that with only three visits, not only I would make up my investment, but save money on top of that. And as we don't live very far, it would be an excuse to visit the lovely town of Henley more often. Obviously, it was a gross miscalculation. The sad thing is, we never went back to the museum, even after the pandemic, even though we visited Henley a few times. And now, well, it is too late, or almost. The las day to visit it is the 21st of September, but visiting it might feel a tad too depressing.I guess I didn't like the place enough to go there again, but it is always heartbreaking when a museum closes down.

Une grue empaillée

Photo prise à Henley, au River & Rowing Museum. C'est un tout petit musée, mais notre visite qui date de janvier fut très agréable et on espère y retourner un jour. En fait, j'espérais y retourner déjà, mais avec la pandémie ça n'a pas adonné. Il faudra sans doute attendre à l'automne, au rythme où vont les choses. Mais enfin bref, ils présentaient un bon nombre d'animaux empaillés que l'on retrouve sur les rives ou dans la Tamise, dont cette grue. J'ai toujours eu une certaine fascination pour les animaux empaillés, même les plus communs. J'ai donc pris cette photo afin de la partager sur le blogue un jour, je me suis dit qu'aujourd'hui ferait parfaitement l'affaire.

Watermill (and how it works)

Today, we went to Henley and spent a bit of time at the River & Rowing Museum. Small museum, but it has some very interesting sections and it's a great place to keep a child entertained. It is also a nice place for an adult who never really completely grew up, like me. I saw many very fascinating things there, among them this watermill model. I am not very technical, but thought it was really well done, explaining in layman's terms how thw watermill works. I also loved the attention to details: there is a cat and a mouse on this display, as there would be in a real watermill (the mouse eating the grain, the cat hunting the mice). Can you find them?

Martin-pêcheur

Petite escapade en famille aujourd'hui: nous avons passé l'après-midi à Henley, dont une partie au River & Rowing Museum. Petit musée, mais on y retrouve quelques exhibitons assez intéressantes. Il y avait, comme à bien des musées dans ce pays, une section avec des animaux empaillés. Je ne sais pas pourquoi, mais les animaux empaillés me fascinent toujours un peu. J'y ai donc pris la photo d'un Martin-pêcheur. Un oiseau qui est assez commun ici, si je ne me trompe pas, mais que je n'ai jamais remarqué dans la nature. Je le trouve un peu exotique. Son nom en anglais, kingfisher (roi pêcheur) a plus d'allure, lui donne un fond d'ancienne aristocratie.