During the summer we paid a visit to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. It proved to be a fun way to spend a few hours, though it did feel a little strange seeing armed police patrolling what is in effect a museum. I suppose that is just the way things are now.

Anyway, not to dwell on the state of society, the first attraction is HMS Warrior. It’s a beast of a ship and I had no chance of fitting it into one photo.

I loved exploring the many levels inside HMS Warrior and imagining life on board.

My favourite was the Captain’s cabin (and I think navigator’s cabin) because I could just imagine Commander Farrell from my Silent Sea Chronicles sitting in his cabin plotting his next mission to capture pirates.

There is a boathouse where you can watch boats being built and repaired. But my favourite was this floating sail boat.

The Mary Rose Museum houses the remains of the 16th century Tudor ship lost to the sea in 1545. The ship is stored in a temperature controlled environment, and it’s quite something to wander the levels seeing both the ship and the artefacts recovered from it.

We managed to time our visit while the HMS Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier was there. This was the closest we managed to get, but the size of it is still very impressive.

Finally there’s HMS Victory. We didn’t get to go inside this time, so this is the first stop on our next visit.

It was very busy so we didn’t get to experience everything. The great thing is, your ticket allows for a second visit free of charge. So we will definitely be returning soon and hopefully I’ll get to share some more pictures.

If you get the chance, I would highly recommend a visit to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard – but get there early as the parking can be an issue.

Next week, I hope to share a wander around Bushy Park, Surrey and show off it’s friendly squirrels a.