visit this museum on the south side of the river?

Yes! I'm talking about the little known Imperial War Museum, located near Lambeth/Elephant & Castle and very off the beaten track and well clear of tourists. (apart from war enthusiasts!)

This is one of those places that we often drive past whilst house hunting on the south side of the river but never quite got round to actually visiting it.

A very imposing 4-storey building with beautiful grounds that used to be the Bethlem Royal Hospital (aka Bedlam, hence how the term bedlam was derived) which housed psychiatric patients in the mid-19th century, the Imperial War Museum (IWM) is dedicated to the Great Wars and also all military operations that involved Britain and the Commonwealth since 1935.

We finally decided that last Sunday was when we would make the dedicated trip to the IWM to view the exhibits that has changed how we now live and how the world functions today - paying homage to all the inventions (atomic bomb, tank etc). during the war and the social effects (children of the war, holocaust etc.) that have lasted till today.

Also I was drawn to the special exhibition that was on in the museum Ministry of Food - an exhibition examining how the British public adapted to the food shortages at that time.

I often hear about food rationing from my grandparents whom lived through WW2 as a teenager but it's not something our generation has ever had to experience so to hear some of the live accounts, see what a week's ration was actually like, flip through a rationing book etc. really did bring it closer to heart.

The exhibition also focused very much on encouraging the public of that time to grow their own crops and convert their back gardens into vegetable plots with propaganda posters and broadcast advertisements encouraging eating potatoes rather than bread (wheat was imported, potatoes were plentiful).

I guess this very much explains why most British people are such keen gardeners and why potato is such a staple and served in a myriad of ways in this country!

Some photographs of the exhibition (courtesy of Arf!)

In all, I really enjoyed the visit and am looking forward to revisiting the museum again soon and looking at all the rest of the exhibits that I did not get to enjoy this time round. A real gem of London and best of all it's free!

Imperial War Museum London Lambeth Road London SE1 6HZ United Kingdom		Open daily 10.00am - 6.00pm (closed 24, 25 and 26 December) ADMISSION IS FREE (Special exhibitions may charge an admission fee)

http://london.iwm.org.uk