Legomania at Milestones Museum, Basingstoke   Legomania, Milestones Museum, Basingstoke, Hampshire Closes 15th April 2012 Reviewed Easter 2012

There are just a few days to head down to a Milestones museum near Basingstoke to see the Legomania exhibition and if you have any Lego- mad children this exhibition will not be disappointing. I took two boys, one nine and one eight, who it is fair to say, love Lego  and they were really impressed with the fabulous scale model of the great Tudor Palace, Basing House that has been created using 150,000 Lego bricks - placed one by one by the UK's only certified professional LEGO builder (what a great job!) Duncan Titmarsh. The scale model of Basing House is set out on the ground and you can see the old and new Basing House in Lego plus ornamental gardens and the walled grounds, the details are quite amazing. It is an incredible feat of Lego engineering and the boys were really impressed. They did however save their most awe-stuck admiration for the collection of Star Wars Lego presented in a cabinet - fantastic star rockets, the Death Star, imaginary planets and creatures (The Battle of Endor) and the Ultimate Star Destroyer - they could name every ship and were very happy to see. There are extra activities to pay for if you wish and the boys built two Lego minifigures (£2.50 each) from trays of arms and legs and heads so you can customise your man and take him with you. There are numerous competitions and prize, Lego models on display, Duplo for the younger kids, puzzles and a wooden railway set. The Lego Brick trail connects technologies in the museum with Lego models and there is a trail sheet from the audio guide desk. Plus you can search for minifigure aliens, see famous movies acted out by Lego minifigures and much more including Lego electric guitars to play. Cool! The Lego exhibition is intermingled into the museum which is a clever way of keeping the children interested through the visit. Milestones is a lovely airy museum and houses a variety of objects from olden days arranged by the decade and based on businesses and activities in the Basingstoke area. It is a fun to visit even when Lego mania is not taking over as it gives a glimpse into a bye- gone times and even a relatively recent historical artifacts like a record player will have the children oohing in amazement that this machine is what we used to listen to music on... There are steam locomotives, iron foundries, fruit shops and silversmiths arranged in a street, a 1940s sweet shop, a Victorian family dressing up tent and even an Edwardian pub, so you have the feeling of wandering though Basingstoke’s cobbled streets in the olden days. We spent nearly two hours in the museum then another hour having a picnic plus looking at the shop. We had a great day and the Lego-mad boys have been making fabulous Star War planes and ships at home ever since our visit. Hurry! The exhibition closes 15th April 2012.