Odd Days Out - Exploring Britain's curiosities, historical footnotes, niche museums & more

Why I’m a big fan of the little Fan Museum

September 18, 2019September 18, 2019 ODObill 0 Comments niche museum

Housed in a beautiful Grade-2 listed house in historic Greenwich, the Fan Museum provides a fascinating history of the fan.

Art and Architecture Events and Tours London Niche Museums

Three Mills Island – a secret no one should keep

September 4, 2019September 10, 2019 ODObill 0 Comments

The history of Three Mills Island is the history of London. It ground the flour and distilled the gin to feed Londoners for hundreds of years. ODO has visited to learn more.

Curiosities Extraneous Extremities Norfolk

How Roys took over Wroxham and built the world’s largest village store

August 21, 2019September 10, 2019 ODOstefan 0 Comments

Odd Days Out have been to investigate how – with the help of ‘Roys of Wroxham’ – the village of Hoveton has managed to buck the standard commercial homogeneity found in most high streets and instead replaced almost every shop with a Roys.

Events and Tours London

Prime Minister’s Question Time: How To Get A Front Row Seat

August 7, 2019August 15, 2019 ODOelliot 0 Comments PMQs, Prime Ministers Question Time, watch pmqs

British parliamentary democracy has experienced a bit of a reputational downturn recently, but it’s still known around the world as

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A Tour of the Rampion Offshore Wind Farm

July 17, 2019September 10, 2019 ODOmatt 0 Comments

Any day-tripper to the Brighton coast can’t fail to notice the horizon’s newest edition – eight miles out in the

Curiosities London

A muggle’s guide to Diagon Alley

July 3, 2019July 3, 2019 ODObill 0 Comments diagon alley, Leadenhall Market

ODO has been to visit two locations used in the Harry Potter films for the famous street of Diagon Alley.

Art and Architecture West Sussex

The Cass Sculpture Foundation – Britain’s hidden sculpture park

June 19, 2019June 20, 2019 ODOmatt 0 Comments art, Cass Sculpture Foundation, Odd Days Out, sculpture, West Sussex, william cass

The Cass Sculpture Foundation is a little-known 26 acre, open-air sculpture park, tucked away behind Goodwood Racecourse.

Among gentle woodland you can marvel at a towering bust of Chairman Mao, see the spoils of an archaeological dig from the future, and picnic under a T-Rex.

The foundation is the creation of scientist and businessman William Cass and his wife Jeannette Cass, who live in the grounds.

Art and Architecture Historical Footnotes London

Crossness Pumping Station – Bazalgette’s Cathedral of Sewage

June 11, 2019June 12, 2019 ODOjack 0 Comments

In the mid-19th century, London had an unpleasant problem. An event known as “The Great Stink” brought a ghastly odor to all and even death to the most unfortunate.

The heart that pumped this engineering marvel became known as “the Cathedral of Sewage,” the Crossness Pumping Station.

But necessity is the mother of invention. From this foul situation, one of London’s greatest Victorian heroes came up with an engineering solution that saved lives and still serves us today – the magnificent feat of infrastructure that is the London sewerage system.

Derbyshire Fantastic Folklore Historical Footnotes

The Hunt for the Original Bakewell Pudding

June 5, 2019June 5, 2019 ODOstefan 0 Comments

Thanks to its eponymous dessert, the Peakland town of Bakewell punches above its weight in terms of name recognition. However, it is the Bakewell Pudding that the town owes it success to – not the ‘tarted up’ variant made famous by Mr Kipling in the 1960s.

The pudding consists of a flaky pastry base covered with a layer of sieved jam and topped with a filling made of egg and almond paste. Culinary tourists still flock to Bakewell to try the local delicacy. Visitors on the hunt for this 19th century treat expect a certain archaism, which the small market town is more than happy to provide.

However, bubbling beneath its quaint exterior is a bitter dispute. Three shops, situated within 100 metres of each other, all claim that they alone have the original recipe for the Bakewell Pudding.