A very low-key, hidden museum well worth the visit…read more Docents/tour guides on the HMS ALLIANCE are men who actually served on the boat, so each tour is a bit different as it reflects their own stories and interests. The museum Cafe is very good too - friendly ladies who turn out good fresh sandwiches (may have to ask for the daily specials as they sometimes forget to post the signs!) Easy access when taking the train from London - Ferry across the harbor is right there as you exit the station. Then we recommend walking the promenade from the ferry terminal along the harbor as a pleasant way to arrive at the museum ... and on the walk back, the Coffee One in Gosport makes a great pit stop/refresher before re-boarding the ferry across to Portsmouth for the train back to London.

The featured attraction of the Royal Navy Submarine Museum is the last surviving British…read moresubmarine/u-boat from World War II, the splendid HMS Alliance. While the museum itself is rather small, if nice, the HMS Alliance is a spectacular attraction that alone is worth the trip to Portsmouth. It is part of the tremendous "Portsmouth Historic Dockyard" experience (It also includes the HMS Victory, the HMS M.33 and the HMS Warrior 1860, plus several museums) which offers at least a couple of days worth of exciting sight-seeing for adults as much as more the smaller fry. First things first: If you want to do all of the Portsmouth Harbour attractions in one day (better make it the full day, i.e. 10 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. in the summer and to 5 p.m. in the winter), make sure to book the "all attractions" ticket *ONLINE*, which will save you money: E.g. the single adult ticket costs UKP 32.00 on the door, but just 25.60 online. The Royal Submarine Museum as an individual attraction alone costs UKP 14.00. The museum is accessible either by car (dedicated parking lot) or via the free-of-charge waterbus from Portsmouth Harbour, which is included in the All Attractions ticket. It's a short boat ride (approx. 5 minutes) which I do recommend as it offers a nice view on the various parts of the dockyard and yachting harbor, and of course the spire. The waterbus goes every half hour until noon and then once an hour until 5 p.m. As the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard gets very busy around noon I would recommend that if you spend the day there you should go to the HMS Alliance/Submarine Museum first: The waterbus is small and holds just about 20-25 people. As said before, the Royal Navy Submarine Museum itself is very small (looks large from outside), but it's a nice collection of various items on the subject of submarines, including actual objects retrieved from old ones, but also paintings and documents. All very nicely presented. Visiting the museum shouldn't take more than 30 minutes. The greater attraction is the HMS Alliance. It's a spectacular, physically imposing submarine preserved in its original condition and fully fitted, including torpedo shells. Beautiful! Here's the thing: You can only enter the Alliance by guided tour, and each guided tour includes no more than 8 or so people. As huge as the Alliance may look from outside, on the inside it is a mousetrap. So they make sure that no more than 2 groups are inside the vessel at the same time. When you arrive at the museum you will be given a fixed time for your tour. If you are more than two people it can happen that you will be given a later tour time because the other spots have been filled already. The HMS Alliance is a technical marvel even today - and when you think that the total crew included 70 people you can paint your own mental picture what life on this vessel must have been like. The guides are very well informed - for a reason: They are mostly retired sailors who spent a part of their professional life as a member of a submarine crew. They're also very friendly: Ask them anything! Photography on board is allowed. See my photos to get an impression of the vessel and museum.

Location This museum is located close to the Great Hall. The…read moreWestgate is two of many surviving gateways in Winchester. The Westgate museum, is set in a old lockup prison, for the drunken and disorderly, and as a debtors' gaol. During the 16th to 18th centuries. Much of the graffiti carved in the softer stone in the upper chamber of the gate, derives from this use. Staff The staff are very helpful and understandable know what each objects is but I would like to name 1 helpful volunteer Ian. service The service is quick and no tickets are required you can also find lots of gifts in the museum gift shop. Where are all these ancient objects found??? All these ancient objects are all found in the Winchester grounds. There is a stunning collection of armor and a giblet, unique collection of weights and measures. And also king Charles ll boot may be seen!! I would recommend you to visit this museum as I think it is interesting and is suitable for children this includes things such as a roof deck and clothing to try on and armor I enjoyed my visit and I hope you will too. Written by: Francesca Potter Age: 9 Visited museum: Sunday 24th October 2010

I love Winchester and Museums so any review I made would be heavily biased. All of Winchester is…read moreworth a visit and every exhibit and museum here is well worth a look at.

This is one of the best places my family and I have ever been to. Completely disabled friendly with…read morelots of parking. The recent addition of the planetarium has been a big hit causing the numbers of daily visitors to swell so get there early as queues can be long. This centre has interactive learning technology and science exhibits, like how much water we waste with baths and showers etc, sounds boring with me saying it but it really is lots of fun with lots of weird and wonderful gadgets to play with it's really hands on, kids and adults alike will love it. There's a great gift shop with very cheap momentoes and the food was reasonable to. The best part for us was the show in the planetarium, just amazing and such a great display, fully disabled friendly and the staff were very helpful. All in all a 5 star day out.

This is risking my hard to please badge, but this is a fantastic day out, lots to do, good value;…read morethe entrance fee is fair, the cafe has good sized portions at a reasonable price, while the gift shop fair and down to earth; unlike The Science Museam in London, from which my son came away empty handed. It's a good hours drive each way for us but very well worth it, I'm thinking about buying the 1annual pass (they'll credit me with today fee if I sign up within 14 days). My lad is seven next week and said that today was the best day of his life, for that alone it is worth five stars.

So we decided to check this place out after the Osborne house, and arrived around 3pm to a…read moresemi-ominous delegation of dozens of crows. I believe I first read about it on Yelp or Trip Advisor, as something worth seeing that is a bit off of the beaten path on the Isle of Wight. The villa "was the home and estate of a cultured farmer and administrator in Roman-British times." Yes, Roman-occupied Britain, circa the 3rd century (AD 250). Excavated in this century and preserved as a museum, it was a pretty neat slice of the times. We saw the outlines and rooms of a home, including the original mosaic tiles, which was extremely fascinating. And the way they introduced each rooms was... interesting. Sort of like the narrator was a friend, using a first-person narrative describing the rooms in their homes. "Let me begin to explain the floor of what I think of as my private room. The mosaic is dedicated to Bacchus the god of wine and good things. You can see two of the images. I've also shown gladiators, one with a net advancing with trident and dagger towards the armoured opponent, whose helmet is just visible." Commonly, the mosaics depicted something to do with myths: Medusa, Perseus, Andromeda, the "cockheaded man" (... chicken-headed). Laid out with glass walkways elevated above the excavated floor, you're able to peer down or across at interesting parts of history. There are also a lot of displays arranged around the villa, showing anything from dog skulls and bones ("Discovered down the well with human remains, suggesting ritual offerings to influence the gods.), coins ("Bronzian of the Emperor Allectus 293-296 AD, found in Room 31 during the 2004 excavations.), chunks of stone featuring footprints in the tile ("The floor tile found in the well bears a human footprint, studded sandal impressions, and a dog's paw print. It is called a bipedalis, a type commonly used to cap a hypocaust floor."), and even some pictures of how the villa came to be buried over the centuries. THE VERDICT: Small, but interesting Roman-occupied villa. I think if you're nearby, it's definitely worth a quick trip because of the ancient, original pieces and tilework that you are see. It's sort of amazing to look down on a mosaic floor that still bears colored tiles. I definitely appreciate old things, and I get an almost dizzying sense seeing places like this. But I can also see how it might be boring to other people who just aren't as interested in stuff like this. To me, it was a fun experience, and I'm glad we stopped in and checked it out. MY TIME: We spent less than an hour here, including getting some cream tea. TIPS/SUGGESTIONS: -The villa is roofed, so you don't have to worry about getting rained on. -Highly wheelchair-accessible.

It's hard to imagine what this villa would have looked like a few years ago before it's spanking…read morenew timber clad cover building was erected. What I like about this museum is that it displays photos of the previous building and also gives a load of information on the original Victorians who discovered it. Clearly the main focal point of the museum is the excavation of the foundations and mosaic floor, but there is so much more information scattered around the walls about the commmitment of preserving such a monument. I didn't realise this before, but this roman villa is one of the top 10 in Europe apparently. The building is hidden away in a valley, but as you drive up to it you get your first sight of the building which is absolutely stunning. Now, me and the other half work with buildings every day so we probably spent a bit too much time admiring the building, but even for the less obsessed there is much to admmire! Well done to all those involved in getting the building up and running and for making an apparent success of it all. There were plenty of kids doing activities when we were there and that has to be the key to survival I think.

We have been meaning to go here for ages…read more Finally, with some friends, we went and what a surprise What a great afternoon out...lots to see inside and gardens to wander through...and plants to buy. And if you wanted to ramble through the magnificent grounds you could - very enjoyable Well worth it; will return

The gardens here are truly stunning - the ordered chaos of the really well thought out garden that…read moredefines the true English garden. There are many unusual plants also, some of which can be bought in the garden shop. The house itself is fine but less of a draw. Apart from its excellent gardens, what makes Parham stand out is that it's not part of the National Trust and is blissfully devoid of all the Trust's tackiness.

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.

I have been here about 4 times and it is a lovely place to go on a Sunday afternoon for a walk. If…read moreit's been raining then it's a bit muddy so take your wellies. The park walkway runs round some lakes where lots of people go to fish. Bit difficult with young children as they are able to get close to the waters edge so you are always on the look out. If it's a baking hot day be prepared to walk through huge clumps of mossies obviously because of the water. The trains run on weekend so not much to do with young kids on a week day. It is a nice place to go though for a walk but a bit limiting if the trains are not running.

Southsea Castle was built by Henry VIII in the 1500s and it is from here that he watched the Mary…read moreRose sink in the Solent. The castle is an interesting place to walk around and has some exhibitions of life there over the years from Henry VIII's time, through the English Civil War and into the 19th century when it was used as a prison. One of the best bits of the visit is the walk through the underground tunnel around the moat. The Time Tunnel, narrated by the 'ghost' of a former inhabitant, takes you through the castle's history. The castle is obviously an historic building and the floors and steps are uneven and difficult for disabled visitors. Car parking (pay) is available in nearby car parks and on the roads around the seafront.