Great open-air museum about 2 hrs by train outside of London. Good day trip if you combine with a…read morevisit to Chichester Cathedral and Roman walls. When I went I saw online if you arrived by stagecoach (bus) and kept your tickets you get 50% off admission. We took the bus #60, picked up in front of cathedral. It is about 25 min ride and a 5 min walk from bus stop to museum. It is only once an hour when we went on Monday so keep an eye on timing. Nice on-site Cafe when you entered. I had a nice egg salad with streaky bacon sandwich with side salad for about £8. Hearty and tasty sandwich. Plan about 3 hours if you want to go through all the buildings. Some volunteer docents in the buildings and they film a BBC show on site as well. The coolest thing is they grind their own flour which you can buy at the store, 3.5 kgs for £3.50.

A grand day out, with or without kids. Even if you don't like history it's a lovely place, but with…read morean interest in how people used to live... fascinating. Take a picnic. There's a massive area to wander about in, and just imagine how we lived in the bare-bone houses that we used to have.

This is a really interesting, thought provoking place to visit. The museum is based on the old RAF…read moreTangmere airfield. The whole family enjoyed this experience. There are plenty of hisoric aircraft to see such as Neville Duke's record breaking Hawker Hunter. Flight simulators which you can try your hand at flying. You can sit in a jet fighter cockpit. There are many pictures, pilot logbooks, letters the pilots sent home (extremely moving). Plenty of souvenirs are available in the museum shop.

My son visited Tangmere Aviation museum with his school (I was fortunate to attend as a parent…read morehelper). The staff were incredibly helpful, knowledgeable and organised the groups very well. Each group researched a particular character in the morning and after lunch presented a role play (with the use of props and dressing up) to articulate the importance of that person eg, Neville Duke and Douglas Bader - (We have now ordered 'Reach For The Sky' dvd). The display exhibiting Duke's Hawker Hunter was especially wonderful to see and the children all enjoyed the flight simulator, taking turns in a cockpit, learning about the brave war heroes/the secret war/spies..etc.. and exploring artifacts. Well done and thankyou for making the day a great learning experience.

An offshoot of the Royal National Armoury collection housing a wide range of cannon and field…read moreartillery from the age of Henry VII through to Saddam Hussains mega cannon . Set in the vast Victorian fortress Fort Nelson which is more than worth a visit itself as a classic example of fortress design . Very good displays . Best of all it's totally free .

This is a great Museum to take the family. The Museum is free and there's plenty of free parking…read more You can explore the ramparts and tunnels, it covers the history of artillery and they have a reasonably priced cafe.

We'd been here before when the boys were small. I wanted to bring them back because of the…read moreexcellent Electricity and Communications exhibits. Not to mention the hilarious walk through vintage TV and Radio sets. Try explaining cassettes and black and white TV to a 7yr old! The rest of the museum is pleasant; bit quiet and some of the working exhibits were closed which is a bit disappointing on a bank holiday weekend. On the whole a nice 4hrs.

I had to drag some of the other families along here, but I think they were pleasantly surprised! A…read moremuseum of local industry on an old chalk pit does sound dull but there is lots of interactive elements and a wide range of exhibits. For kids the narrow gauge railway is fun and they got a lot of fun and learnign out of the interactive aspects of the electricity and telecom exhibitions. I liked the old bus collection. Its worth tryign to ensure you go here on a day when their will be lots of the volunteers working the various old machinery as this brings it to life. There was printing and pottery and a couple of other 'machines in action' when we were there. A full day out.

Situated on the harbor looking out to the Naval yards across the water in Portsmouth is this…read moretreasure of a museum. Clean, well staffed and organized, this small museum is packed with power. Each exhibit has been extensively thought out and presented with audio, visual and an artistry that is rarely seen in a museum of this size. Things are hung from ceilings and below foot peaking out through glass, video and interactive stations abound and wall carvings worthy of awards complete your walk through the history of fire power. They ask that photos not be used on commercial sites, but I can tell you that the people carved into the walls are wood, metal and brass, and the floor to ceiling sculptures are extraordinary. Top all of this off with a cafe that makes their own scones and lasagna, and this museum rushes to the top of my worldwide must see list. It has won many awards for good reason. They know how to teach the public in an eye-catching and engaging manner. Three jolly cheers and five stars for Explosion!

SeaCity Museum is an interesting stopover if you have some extra time in Southampton, but it is far…read morefrom a "must-see" attraction. As far as museums go, it is your typical mid-sized town museum, and certainly not to the scope of the Met or Museum of Natural History or anything of the sort. You're looking at perhaps an hour and a half to two hours tops, so do keep this in mind before forking over your hard earned £12.69 for entrance. The headliner is undoubtedly the Titanic exhibit, which if you are a fan of the history and/or the movie, might lure you in. Southampton is the port where the ship took its inaugural voyage from, so there is an obvious vested interest. However, if you are in town as the starting point for your own cruise, viewing this beforehand might be a bit unsettling. I suppose you could always come after you have returned though. The Titanic display is shown in a storybook format, introducing a smattering of crew members (some important, some random), and there is no mention or connection to the movie. Over the course of the exhibit, we are drawn to the characters, learning their lifestories and trials and tribulations, as if reading a book or watching a film. This is purposely done to invoke a rooting interest in how things ultimately pan out for them. One thing I do find odd is that only this handful of characters is emphasized, with nary a mention of the countless other crew members, nor the passengers. In any event, the storytelling is compelling, and the photographs, artifacts, detailed mock-ups, interactive booths, etc. are just enough to keep visitors entertained and educated, even those who were not huge fans to begin with, such as yours truly. The rest of the museum is much smaller, and mostly about Southampton itself. It is still definitely worth your time though, especially if this is your first time in town. One of the displays showcases the history of the city and its inhabitants over time, and the other focuses more on the transportation aspect in and out of the city, since Southampton has always been a traditional transit hub, be it for commerce or leisure. The detailed model ships are definitely a highlight. The only downer is the head curator being quite rude to guests. Before our time was up, she was barking at visitors to GTFO, and even gave us a countdown to how much time we had remaining. When I made it to the gift shop, she told everyone we had less than a minute, and to hurry up and buy, as if we were in Menace II Society. We understand that she wants to go home, and get back to doing whatever she's got going on, but there is absolutely no need for such a condescending tone to customers who paid good money to be there. It's not as if everyone was just milling about and loitering or anything. Any chance of a sale in their gift shop was completely nullified. The rest of the employees are great, however. They actually gave me that apologetic look, as if they already knew their boss was like this, so I am thankful to them. Fortunately, this didn't completely ruin the wonderful SeaCity Museum experience for me, but it certainly did leave a slight black mark. Cliff's Notes: Check it out of you are a fan of the Titanic (maybe not before your own cruise though) and/or Southampton history. Everyone else should just spend the time exploring Southampton itself instead.

If you are ever in Southampton this is one of the museums that you must go and see. This SeaCity…read moreMuseum is about the history of the Titanic and many of the ships that have come into Southampton. It has a long history and is overall fun to learn about. I had no idea how many cultures came from boats and into the harbor. It must have been a hard boat ride. But overall it brought different cultures into the UK. Also has a lot to do with the wars. It also shows in great detail the Titanic and how class differences were separated on the ship! It was pretty cool to learn a part of history.

Mary Rose is the most fascinating story presented at the Portsmouth Dockyard. It is done through a…read morevery modern engaging museum, with multimedia introduction and well interpreted artifacts, as well as the huge portion of hull.

This was a highlight of my most recent trip to the U K. My wife and I spent Christmas in London…read morewith our daughter, her husband and our two grandchildren eight and five. My son-in-law and I are history buffs and decided that we had always wanted to see the Victory and Mary Rose so we were going to travel down to Portsmouth, spend the night and see the various ships on display. We all had some misgivings about leaving our comfortable VRBO in London and taking the train to Portsmouth but we did it anyway and we were glad we did. We stayed in the Holiday Inn Express located a short walk from the museum area. You can enter the dock area which houses the Victory, Mary Rose, Warrior, and other museums free but you have to buy a yearly pass to actually visit anything on exhibit. The pass lets you see everything and is well worth the price. The Mary Rose fascinated everyone including the children. The various artifacts give you a real sense of everyday life in the middle of sixteenth century England. The layout was absolutely fantastic. Even the kids enjoyed it. I was less impressed with the Victory. It was not well maintained and the layout wasn't informative. Too bad because the potential is so great. Don't miss the Warrior and the various museums. Our two days there was really not enough time. BTW the new British Aircraft Carrier Queen Elizabeth was there but of course we could not tour her.

Big! Giant! Huge Collection! I think that describes this museum. Be prepared to spend at least half…read moreday here. For fast pace like me, it takes us 3 hours. This museum need reservations ahead of time. It is free to public. The museum is popular, if you try to get in at the day arrive, you have to hope not many reserve the ticket. The museum has a lot room with different regions in the world. Many of the collection even the host country doesn't have it. The Egypt collection includes the many types of mummies. This collection not even the Egypt has it. The entrance basically enter to the round section that connected to the different room. You may need a good leg to walk entire museum. They also have folding chairs that you can use and portable to open at the display.

Late Saturday afternoon in the summer:…read more The Good: *Admission is free! *No cattle crowd lines for security check, I basically walked up. *The new (compared to the original) Grand Courtyard is stunning and a fantastic photo op. *Enlightenment Room 1 is literally the coolest place in the summer. *The Rosetta Stone, Room 4 is a don't miss. *ditto the Tang dynasty figures and China history which was eye-opening in Room 33. Jade story was interesting too in Room 33a. The Bad: *Probably because it's free, the place is super crowded with students, elderly, tourists and large tour groups of all stripes. *The security line was empty because everyone was already inside. *Most of the rooms are hot in summer. I was sweating and clammy. I was surprised people weren't fainting due to the stuffy air. *You have about 10 seconds to see the Rosetta Stone due to the crowd who also don't want to miss it. *Enlightenment Room 1 was filled with people sitting and resting and cooling off in the library-like space. *Special exhibition-Declaring Independence, USA 250 was super small but I guess appropriate given the British lost the war. Room 3. I forgot I had already been to the British Museum 12 years ago. I think I've seen enough but maybe return in the midweek and when it isn't so hot. Sometimes the museum closes early due to the heat.

A beautiful gem situated in the heart of Bognor. So much history all under one roof. Vintage…read morememorabilia, historical pictures and an array articles. I was not disappointed. It is a must visit!