(Photo taken by Ben Terrett.)
There’s been a lot of publicity lately around the Tate Modern, which recently hosted a sleeopver event for 150 teenagers who camped out in Turbine Hall overnight. The Tate isn’t, however, the only museum that lets visitors sleep there overnight, and for some of the others it’s a regular event, not an exciting one-off.
The Science Museum in Kensington has, over summer, a series of Science Nights, where groups of children aged between eight and eleven (and supervising adults over 18) can get involved with a range of hands-on scientific activities, watch an IMAX 3-D film, sleep among the exhibits and wake up in the morning to a provided breakfast.
The sleepovers are only available on specific dates. For 2007, these dates will be released “at the end of May”, so any day now — keep an eye on the Science Museum website for further updates. Usually we’d expected this sort of thing to be open only to school excursions, but in this case the minimum group size is five children and one adult. Most families might not be quite that big (or stretch to the £30 cost per person), but with no need to organise a huge group, this could be a fantastic night for a group of friends with an accompanying parent or two.
If the Science Museum isn’t your thing, or if you don’t see why children should get all the fun, sleepovers are also available on a replica of Sir Francis Drake’s famous ship the Golden Hinde, which circumnavigated the world in 1577. You’ll need a group of at least 20, paying £39 a head, but it’s open to adults or children, and you get to spend the night living the life of an Elizabethan privateer. Costumes are provided; visitors learn about navigation, gunnery, and seafaring. After sleeping on the gundeck, you’ll be woken to an “authentic breakfast of bread and cheese”, though presumably they skip the weevils.
Science Nights: the Science Museum, Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD. Selected nights during summer, £30 per person.
Overnight Living History: The Golden Hinde, St Mary Overie Dock, Cathedral Street, SE1 9DE. Throughout summer, £39 per person.
