Rachel Mackay
@rachmackay.bsky.social
Head of Hampton Court Palace. Author of Delivering the Visitor Experience. Dundonian, dog owner, dancer. (That last isn’t true but I needed a D word)
therecoveryroomblog.com
therecoveryroomblog.com
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Rachel Mackay
@rachmackay.bsky.social
· Nov 14
Here’s my book 📕:
Delivering the Visitor Experience, the best (okay, only) step-by-step guide there is to creating, delivering and developing the visitor experience in museum and heritage sites 😄
Would ❤️ to hear what you think!
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1783...
Delivering the Visitor Experience, the best (okay, only) step-by-step guide there is to creating, delivering and developing the visitor experience in museum and heritage sites 😄
Would ❤️ to hear what you think!
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1783...
What’s the best Vis Ex interview question you can ask - and how can you answer it?
open.substack.com/pub/vexblog/...
open.substack.com/pub/vexblog/...
My Favourite Question
The best interview question in the world, and how to answer it
open.substack.com
February 5, 2026 at 10:14 AM
What’s the best Vis Ex interview question you can ask - and how can you answer it?
open.substack.com/pub/vexblog/...
open.substack.com/pub/vexblog/...
My first VEXblog post is live, and it’s basically a list of all my failures. Come for the schadenfreude, stay for the helpful Visitor Experience content!
Subscribe for two-weekly posts sent straight to your inbox
open.substack.com/pub/vexblog/...
Subscribe for two-weekly posts sent straight to your inbox
open.substack.com/pub/vexblog/...
On Trying to Fail
What are the ‘broken bones’ of your visitor experience career that taught you valuable lessons?
open.substack.com
January 8, 2026 at 11:48 AM
My first VEXblog post is live, and it’s basically a list of all my failures. Come for the schadenfreude, stay for the helpful Visitor Experience content!
Subscribe for two-weekly posts sent straight to your inbox
open.substack.com/pub/vexblog/...
Subscribe for two-weekly posts sent straight to your inbox
open.substack.com/pub/vexblog/...
I’m keen to back to writing about visitor experience in 2026. So I’m starting a Substack! VEXblog will be a regular dose of all things vis ex straight to your inbox.
Subscribe below and expect new content soon!
open.substack.com/pub/vexblog
Subscribe below and expect new content soon!
open.substack.com/pub/vexblog
VEXblog | Rachel Mackay | Substack
VEXblog is a Substack for people obsessed with delivering amazing visitor experiences in museums, heritage and cultural attractions. Click to read VEXblog, by Rachel Mackay, a Substack publication. La...
open.substack.com
January 5, 2026 at 12:52 PM
I’m keen to back to writing about visitor experience in 2026. So I’m starting a Substack! VEXblog will be a regular dose of all things vis ex straight to your inbox.
Subscribe below and expect new content soon!
open.substack.com/pub/vexblog
Subscribe below and expect new content soon!
open.substack.com/pub/vexblog
High-fiving the New Year like….
Long may yer lum reek from
Hampton Court Palace
Long may yer lum reek from
Hampton Court Palace
January 1, 2026 at 9:54 AM
High-fiving the New Year like….
Long may yer lum reek from
Hampton Court Palace
Long may yer lum reek from
Hampton Court Palace
Thoroughly enjoyed the amazing #MarieAntoinette exhibition @vamuseum.bsky.social
October 24, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Thoroughly enjoyed the amazing #MarieAntoinette exhibition @vamuseum.bsky.social
A brilliant time to visit the Wilderness at Hampton Court Palace - the autumn colour is stunning 🤩
October 15, 2025 at 9:54 AM
A brilliant time to visit the Wilderness at Hampton Court Palace - the autumn colour is stunning 🤩
A Welsh escape this weekend enjoying beaches, hills, BBQs and lush landscapes 🏴
August 17, 2025 at 4:35 PM
A Welsh escape this weekend enjoying beaches, hills, BBQs and lush landscapes 🏴
#GotchaDay
Can’t believe it’s a year since I brought this fluff ball home 🧡
Yes I deliberately wore the same top
Can’t believe it’s a year since I brought this fluff ball home 🧡
Yes I deliberately wore the same top
August 5, 2025 at 7:14 PM
#GotchaDay
Can’t believe it’s a year since I brought this fluff ball home 🧡
Yes I deliberately wore the same top
Can’t believe it’s a year since I brought this fluff ball home 🧡
Yes I deliberately wore the same top
Flora and I had fun hanging out with London Fire Brigade and the RNLI as part of #WorldDrowningPreventionDay at Hampton Court Palace
As a riverside palace, so important for us to help engage our local community in water safety 💧
As a riverside palace, so important for us to help engage our local community in water safety 💧
July 25, 2025 at 11:38 AM
Flora and I had fun hanging out with London Fire Brigade and the RNLI as part of #WorldDrowningPreventionDay at Hampton Court Palace
As a riverside palace, so important for us to help engage our local community in water safety 💧
As a riverside palace, so important for us to help engage our local community in water safety 💧
What are the new frontiers of VEX I would talk about if I was writing Delivering the Visitor Experience today?
Find out in my new piece for @blooloop.bsky.social
blooloop.com/museum/opini...
Find out in my new piece for @blooloop.bsky.social
blooloop.com/museum/opini...
Three new challenges in visitor experience
Rachel Mackay identifies three fresh challenges in visitor experience since she published her book Delivering the Visitor Experience in 2023.
blooloop.com
July 22, 2025 at 9:33 AM
What are the new frontiers of VEX I would talk about if I was writing Delivering the Visitor Experience today?
Find out in my new piece for @blooloop.bsky.social
blooloop.com/museum/opini...
Find out in my new piece for @blooloop.bsky.social
blooloop.com/museum/opini...
We’re well into the 2025 run of the Hampton Court Palace Music Festival - always one of my favourite times of year! James, Rag n Bone Man and Tom Jones have already knocked it out of the park (palace) - tonight it’s the turn of Bananarama!
June 14, 2025 at 9:06 AM
We’re well into the 2025 run of the Hampton Court Palace Music Festival - always one of my favourite times of year! James, Rag n Bone Man and Tom Jones have already knocked it out of the park (palace) - tonight it’s the turn of Bananarama!
It’s dahlia time in the Gardens!
June 9, 2025 at 6:31 PM
It’s dahlia time in the Gardens!
Spent a wonderful day at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and @maryrosemuseum.bsky.social as part of our HRP Ops Leads away day
June 4, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Spent a wonderful day at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and @maryrosemuseum.bsky.social as part of our HRP Ops Leads away day
Looking forward to being in Theatre 2 at 13:00 @museumsandheritage.com Show today - come and hear us talk about our new philosophy of visitor engagement!
May 15, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Looking forward to being in Theatre 2 at 13:00 @museumsandheritage.com Show today - come and hear us talk about our new philosophy of visitor engagement!
Going all out for Flora’s birthday today - meeting up with her siblings this afternoon! 🥳 🎂
May 4, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Going all out for Flora’s birthday today - meeting up with her siblings this afternoon! 🥳 🎂
Reposted by Rachel Mackay
You can't put a better bit of butter on your knife!
#ShowingMyAge
Weekends of cookery are back at Hampton Court Palace all year from today. Tudor preservation methods are the topic for the year, and the first few weekends are butter making.
#ShowingMyAge
Weekends of cookery are back at Hampton Court Palace all year from today. Tudor preservation methods are the topic for the year, and the first few weekends are butter making.
May 3, 2025 at 10:33 AM
You can't put a better bit of butter on your knife!
#ShowingMyAge
Weekends of cookery are back at Hampton Court Palace all year from today. Tudor preservation methods are the topic for the year, and the first few weekends are butter making.
#ShowingMyAge
Weekends of cookery are back at Hampton Court Palace all year from today. Tudor preservation methods are the topic for the year, and the first few weekends are butter making.
There have been many power struggles over the centuries at Hampton Court Palace, but none more tense than that between Flora and her pigeony nemesis.
April 27, 2025 at 4:12 PM
There have been many power struggles over the centuries at Hampton Court Palace, but none more tense than that between Flora and her pigeony nemesis.
Peak blossom time at Hampton Court
April 24, 2025 at 7:15 AM
Peak blossom time at Hampton Court
I’m horribly fickle when it comes to Hampton Court tulips:
Here are today’s faves 🌷
Here are today’s faves 🌷
April 22, 2025 at 4:15 PM
I’m horribly fickle when it comes to Hampton Court tulips:
Here are today’s faves 🌷
Here are today’s faves 🌷
It’s the first weekend of the award-winning #TulipFestival at Hampton Court!
April 12, 2025 at 12:07 PM
It’s the first weekend of the award-winning #TulipFestival at Hampton Court!
Hampton Court is really starting to bloom now 🌺
April 7, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Hampton Court is really starting to bloom now 🌺
An MA student asked me a question last week and afterwards, I felt like I’d answered it in a really unhelpful way!
I’ve tried again on LinkedIn, so posting it here too, with alt text.
I’ve tried again on LinkedIn, so posting it here too, with alt text.
March 23, 2025 at 12:26 PM
An MA student asked me a question last week and afterwards, I felt like I’d answered it in a really unhelpful way!
I’ve tried again on LinkedIn, so posting it here too, with alt text.
I’ve tried again on LinkedIn, so posting it here too, with alt text.
Nice to see the first signs of life appearing on the Great Wisteria
March 22, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Nice to see the first signs of life appearing on the Great Wisteria