Woking; Saturday, 25 June, 2022

An early breakfast and I was out of the hotel before 9am to head over to the bus stops near the station to pick up the bus out to Brooklands.

Brooklands was the site of the worlds first Motor Racing circuit, laid out at the start of the 20th century and built in a few months. The circuit attracted speed fans not just in cars but on bikes, motorbikes and then planes as well. During the first world war the site became a factory for planes that were produced to help the early use of planes in warfare. Following the end of hostility, the track returned to its position as a raceway with the first every British Grand Prix being held here.

With the outbreak of World War II, the site was taken over fully for aircraft manufacturing with both bombers and fighters being produced on site, and during that time part of the original racetrack was destroyed to fit more factories in. However, after the war the site continued to play a major role in the UK Aviation industry manufacturing commercial planes and jets and it’s most famous creation the nose, cockpit and tail sections of Concorde.

The site eventually closed down for manufacturing, but a small part of the track and the original clubhouse from the racecourse were saved and turned into the basis of the modern Brooklands Museum that exists to today. The museum tells the history of the site through exhibits on the vehicles and planes that were built on the site.

The site is also home to the London Bus Museum, which has a collection or original London buses from the first horse-drawn omnibus through to modern double decker’s and even a trial electric bus that was used in central London before the widespread adoption of electric buses.

But the highlight of any visit to the museum is to join the Concorde Experience tour. Here you are guided round the plane by former cabin crew who tell you some of the history of the production of the aircraft before taking you inside where you can sit in the seats and relive a part of what it would have been like to fly the worlds only supersonic passenger jet.

I finished off my time at the site by looking round some of the other airplane exhibits in the main field before it was time to head back to the bus stop and catch the bus back to Woking.

Back in Woking I headed over to the Lightbox. This large multi-use facility, located next to the Basingstoke Canal, on the edge of the town centre houses a number of exhibit spaces, one of which housed the permanent Woking Stories gallery which tells the history of the town.

One of the most famous of the towns residents was H G Wells, and whilst he only lived in the town for less than two years during this time he wrote some of his best works, including The War of the Worlds and walking through town you can come across statues of both the man himself, as well as a depiction of the Martian Tripod.

I spent a bit of time wandering round town before heading over to a restaurant to grab dinner and then turning in for an early night.