Sunday 20 June 2010

Mad Hatter’s Tea Party at Anthony House

Inspecting the white roses

Yesterday we had (to quote my kids) “the most fun we ever had!” We went to a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, part of the Alice in Wonderland Experience at Anthony House, the location where Tim Burton’s new Alice in Wonderland movie was filmed!

I visited Anthony years ago (when I was a child) and it is still a grand English house set in beautiful gardens .. with some new elements added, like the statue of the Caterpillar sitting on the mushroom as you go through the main gates, and a play area with colourful mushrooms and a rabbit-hole slide!

The Tea Party involved about 30 kids taking part in an hour of chasing characters from Alice in Wonderland around the gardens of Anthony House, finding the Cheshire Cat’s smiles, the Mad Hatter’s lost hats and the Queen of Heart’s lost crown, joining in on a dance to entertain the Red Queen, and culminating in a Tea Party in a marquee with tea (juice) and jam tarts, and more games on an Alice theme .. pass the teapot .. Flamingo (picture bingo) .. design a hat for the Queen of Hearts ..

The highlight moment of the day for me was at the Tea Party, Alice asked the Hatter “So how do you actually make a hat then?” The Hatter replied “Well I start by measuring their head”, Oliver, sat nearby, looked up and said quite seriously “Yes, that’s what I usually do.” The hatter then said “Oh yes, you’re a fellow hatter so you would know..” I had to try very hard not to laugh too loudly!

The Caterpillar

Alice and the Hatter go exploring

Mushrooms

Alice and the white rabbit at the clock-tower

Alice, the Hatter and the white rabbit at the clock-tower

Following Alice

Meeting the Mad Hatter

A dance for the Queen of Hearts

Alice and the Hatter on the steps at Anthony House

There were photo ops galore with my two in all their finery in such a beautiful setting .. I've included some favourites here, and have added even more to my flickr set ..
View slideshow of all images ..

The kids (and us!) are very keen to do a return visit to Anthony over the summer (the kids both wanted to go back the very next day!) .. we still have more exploring to do .. I really want to find all the key locations from the movie ..

5 comments:

  1. Wow! That does look like fun! How'd you get to do that?

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  2. Yes it was a lot of fun Mandy! Anyone can do this, Anthony House is open to the public, we just happen to live about a half hour drive away!

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  3. Ollie and Cyan look fantastic in their costumes. I am sure that they had a wonderful time. I saw the 'hole/tunnel' on your flicker photos, can children/adults go down it?

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  4. Thanks Cathy. I didn't try going down the 'rabbit hole', wish I had now! The kids loved it! Actually, Alice came down the rabbit hole so I guess adults can fit!

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  5. Oh wow. That looks amazing! The kids look adorable in their outfits too : )

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