Are you looking for a day out in Leicestershire for the wet and windy half term holiday? Well, we can help there.

Although we do love a bit of mud, and a lot of our activities do embrace the thought of pelting multiple tonnes of tank head long into great piles of the stuff, running around the woods with paint guns, jumping into and behind piles of it, and generally getting covered in it, we do have some activities to entertain during the wet weather.

Tank Paintball

First option for days out in the East Midlands is a visit to our museum. The Museum at Armourgeddon is situated on our Tank Paintball Battle site at Southfields Farm, Husbands Bosworth. Just 10 minutes from junction 20 of the M1. The museum comprises of four hangers containing a wide array of military exhibits and a collection of tanks, most of which have previously seen live action in one of the theatres of war. There is also a Bell 47 Helicopter and numerous interactive exhibits. 

The tank collection at Armourgeddon includes some of the most famous tanks known for their involvement in the Second World War; The Sexton was a self-propelled artillery vehicle of WWII, based on Canadian built versions of the American M3 Lee and M4 Sherman tank chassis. The Sexton entered production in Canada as The Ram and Grizzly. Perhaps one of the most famous tanks in our collection, The Sherman Tank, was the most numerously produced tank used by the United States and other Allies in WWII. Reliable, cheap and available in large numbers, the Sherman Tank was the poster boy of the US campaign, often used in films depicting the war effort and in fact, our Sherman and some of the team from Armourgeddon were in the recent Brad Pitt movie, Fury portrays US tank crews in Nazi Germany during the final days of WWII. In the film, Fury, The Sherman is the star of the show, after the rest of the platoon is bombed and broken; Fury is disguised so as to look destroyed too. Of course there is a hero.. but we wont spoil the whole plot for you!

The Bell 47G Chopper

The Bell 47G Helicopter was built at Bell Aircraft’s Buffalo Plant near Niagara Falls in New York State on 15th May 1947. She was originally registered NC120B and constructed as a Bell 47B.

She first flew for Alaska Airlines and was based at Merrill Field, Anchorage, Alaska. In 1951, she was converted to a 47D1. Before being exported to the UK in 1962, she flew for AG Helicopters of Pasadena, California for crop spraying. She was converted to her current configuration at about that time. 

After all these years, she still retains her original wooden blades and it was from the distinct chopping sound of these blades in flight that the nickname ‘chopper’ came about. In 1946 the Bell 47 was the first helicopter in the world to receive commercial build certification by any aviation authority. This particular Bell 47 was constructed within a year of that certification. In May 2017 she turns 70 years old. Quite some achievement and it is amazing to look back at a piece of history and mechanical engineering from a time when construction and aviation was without the advances of modern day technologies.

The other exhibits within the museum include a large number of cabinets of military paraphernalia; medals, uniforms, ration books and photographs as well as video based educational screens and interactive features: riffles, field telephones and Morse code machines to pick up, tap and try out.

Are you looking for activities for kids in Leicestershire during the school holidays? As well the museum, for children over the age of 12 we run archery and air riffle shooting activities and those over 8 years old are able to be a part of an adult’s Tank Driving Experience or Tank Paintball Battle activity as a passenger.

We are still on the look out for a group of young people to help us build an Anderson Shelter, so if you are a Scout or Brownies group, a KS2 teacher or a Sea Cadets or Army Cadets group looking for a challenge, then get in touch.

The museum at Armourgeddon also houses our French Café complete with cobbled street and parked military vehicles. Serving snacks, coffees and a selection of confectionary, you feel almost transported back in time- although a touch safer in 2017 than in 1942!

Armourgeddon Museum is open from 9am to 5pm with activities bookable for selected Wednesdays, all Saturdays and Sundays. Activities for groups are available outside of these times also. For more information, please call 01858 880239 or email events@armourgeddon.co.uk.