The Walrus Is Back,

after a month long holiday in Margate,

after spending 100 years at it's home in the Horniman Museum the walrus had a summer break at the Turner Contemporary in Margate, on Thursday the Horniman walrus returned to his home in south-east London, back from his halcyon summer at the seaside, I remember the museum well as a kid and of course the show piece of the displays, the wrinkle free overstuffed walrus that sits proudly on a fake iceberg (Victorian taxidermists didn't realise that a walrus would have wrinkles),  


the museum was founded by philanthropist Frederick John Horniman who had used the proceeds from his world-famous tea company to travel the world and amass a wondrous collection of artifacts, instruments and anthropological oddities, eventually Horniman's collection overtook his home and he opened the house to the visiting public, the tea magnate continued to collect and in 1901 the current museum and gardens were opened, and have been attracting visitors as diverse as the collection itself,


in addition to the stacks of glass-cased displays the facility also features an aquarium and a large clock tower, today the Horniman Museum holds over 350,000 objects and continues to grow, check the website for some of the museum's many educational and family-friendly events and take a trip to one of the most immersive museums in the world, also there is a nice garden to walk around and a pretty impressive reference library I have used on several occasions, what a great way to spend a day.