Very interactive and interesting exhibits…read more FREE admission will get you into 90% of the actual museum. Variety of exhibits so it has a little something for everybody. The first floor was the Dive In! Aquarium. It had a very nice anemone tank and a variety of other tanks that had sea life. The second floor is the Bug space, and the beginning of the Natural History space. Both are very interactive and have plenty of kid friendly space. The Return of the Gods exhibit (which costs 8 GBP to visit) was on the third floor, but you could also see what I thought was the most interesting part of the museum which was the World Culture exhibit. The exhibits themselves are nice, but this museum has a novel approach to explaining how Liverpool got its items. Comedian Daliso Chaponda was narrating the process of how the museum procured the majority of its items through good ole colonization (kidding, not kidding). He brings to light the appropriation process through comedic discussion, novel and palatable. The 3rd floor also has the Egyptian Exhibit, which is very good. It's probably the jewel of the museum. The history of the pieces are well explained, and the mummies are displayed wonderfully, some in layers, some in narrative, and plenty of interactivity for the little ones. I didn't spend much time on the fourth floor (Dinosaurs) or fifth floor (Planetarium/Space). The fifth floor wasn't as impressive, but gave those genre's some space for those that are interested. It was the meh portions of the museum. If you have a few hours to burn, consider this museum a good choice for kids of all ages and interests.

Visited the museum especially to see the current special exhibition on the Chinese terracotta army…read morewhich was well worth the cost of the tickets. The building contains a large cafe on the ground floor that was well stocked with good quality food and deserts, this area also has access to free Wi-Fi. The next floor has the Aquarium and treasure house theater. The 2nd (3rd in US) floor has the special exhibition and the Bug House. Next floor contains World Cultures, Ancient Egypt and Western Discovery Center (only open weekends & school holidays. 4th floor holds Dinosaurs, Endangered Planet and Clore Natural History Center. Finally the 5th floor holds exhibits on Space and Time along with a Planetarium - tickets needed from the information desk on the ground floor. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful and could not be more accommodating, well worth the visit. I should also add the this museum is free except for the special exhibit which needs tickets purchased either online or at the entrance with limited time slots available each day.

Ah, the Atkinson. Again, just another Southport landmark full of childhood memories for myself…read more Yep, my father used to bring me here regularly to ensure I had a lovely cultural upbringing, and it's a marvellous gallery housed in a terrific building right in the centre of the seaside town itself, opposite Lord Street and the band stand. Admission is free but donations are encouraged as every gift helps, no matter how small. And once you've walked around this spectacular yet strangely humble gallery you'd have to have a heart of ice not to want to give a little something. It has a varied and rather extensive collection, ranging from LS Lowry to John Piper, John Collier to Ernest Normand and many more. The Friends of the Atkinson Gallery are an organisation which helps to drum up even more interest for the gallery. It's currently closed for refurbishments but plans to reopen bigger and better than ever as part of a Southport cultural overhaul, so get involved as it's bound to increase in popularity after its makeover. Southport might not quite rival Brighton yet in the seaside artsy stakes, but it's getting there, and with the help of the Atkinson it'll get there a lot faster!

This is now an entertainment/cultural centre, with the art gallery, an auditorium, civic hall and…read morebotanic museum all within the grade 2 listed building. The entrance/foyer is welcoming and strikingly clean - statuary and paintings being the first things I saw. The bookings and information desks are unobtrusive, yet easy to find as the signage throughout is very clear. There are interesting display cases throughout. Up the impressive staircase are the toilets, the superb but expensive bar and the entrances to the auditorium. As I was there for a music concert, this is the area I saw best. A superb setting for Fairport Convention as they attract a fair number of fans, yet like to connect with their audience as intimately as possible. The seating was comfortable and gave us all a good view of the band. The sound was just superb.

A fascinating perspective on the contributions by the people of the Manchester area to major…read moreinnovations in science and industry throughout history. Numerous displays and examples of equipment and machinery large and small. Steam engines to electron microscopes on display, with emphasis on Manchester's relationship with the cotton industry, both good and bad. Something for everyone here, young and old. Free to enter, donations appreciated. Reservations will make sure that you don't need to wait for entry. A must-see if you are in the area.

Fantastic place for families with children! Adults can enjoy the many exhibits while young ones can…read moreenjoy the hands on displays. We liked watching the textile demonstration in the Textile area. This place has so much to see and do. And it's free! Contributions are gladly accepted to keep this fabulous museum operational.

Interesting museum showing history of Leyland trucks and commercial vehicles.read more

Excelent museum run by enthusiasts and retired truckers with stories galore. There is a good…read morearchive and many exhibits from the earliest days to modern commercial vehicles. Well worth a visit. Parking is free outside, and there are many cafes, supermkts,shops etc. in Leyland town centre next to it.

So my better half took me here after I ate an ice cream that almost weighed the same as my lad…read more It's a beautiful big park and hall. So we had a look at the pond and saw the geese and ducks. We then moseyed on up to field where we shot our Rockets. Flew the micro lite helicopter (great at take offs. Horrendously bad at landings). We also played football and threw the frisby We then had a walk up to the climbing frames. That Was very busy with kids with no manners so we swiftly moved on to the bouncy castle. You have to pay but good value for money and he got some much enjoyment out of running him and bouncy Down. I couldn't think of anything worse. We then had a little surprise with a free small animal section. Loads of birds. Little animals like rabbits. Tortoises. Squirrels etc. So good and quite educational. I was very impressed. We then headed back down to get a coffee. This was the only boringly bad element to the whole experience. To have 3 drinks and crisps I nearly had to raid my lads wallet as didn't take cards and wasnt cheap. That wasn't the worst bit. I had to queue for 30 mins. Lol I would definitely recommend if for an afternoon out. I left a tip too!

This is a great place to go if you are looking for a free day out with the kids.Not only is there…read moreloads of room for them to run round , play footie and generally let off steam but there's a well equipped play area too. The small pets area is open again now and there are always ducks on the lake so take a few rounds of bread with you!There is a cafe in the park which not only sells icecreams ,tea and coffee but also does some reasonably priced meals. The hall itself has lots to see and there are activities that children can complete on the way round, if you are a Chorley resident remember to take proof with you and entry is free.My kids loved going here and for a cheap day out we used to take a picnic there are plenty of trees to shelter under if it rains!The hall itself is open from April to October but the park is open all year round.

This is a very impressive museum full of artifacts and exhibits. We loved everything about this…read moremuseum and the best part was the entrance is free! They have artifacts from Egypt, Africa, and many locations. They have quite a bit of wild animal exhibits representing the different species in the UK. They have a nice cafe to sit and rest also. They have a lift. I definitely recommend this museum. So nice and so much to see.

Imagine it is 150 years ago, and you are a rich, white English dude. You travel the world and…read moresimply help yourself to whatever catches the fancy of your magpie little brain. You plunder flora and fauna, antiquities, important cultural objects from other peoples. You compete with other rich, white dudes to create the biggest collection of the most random things someone could think of. "I have one of every butterfly on each of the inhabited continents!" "Oh yeah, my stuffed 2-toed sloth is bigger than yours!" Fast forward to the present, and the current caretakers of this hodgepodge of objects of dubious provenance are tasked with creating cohesive exhibits for the public. There are some really interesting pieces in the museum. I was able to hold a 2,000 year-old carved stone perfum vial. See the cross section of a turtle skeleton (so cool how the spines follow the inner curve of the shell), admire a stuffed porcupine. It was fascinating to think about what caught the fancy of people in the past. I would have loved to have seen more discussion of how these objects came to be, and what that tells us about classism, racism, and the history of imperialism. Be that as it may, I'm glad to see that someone's past light fingeredness is at least entertaining and educating the public today, instead of collecting dust in a storage facility somewhere.

This museum is a bit of a mixed bag. The Roman artifacts are well worth a look but in other areas…read morethings get a bit ropey, especially the natural history section. Who wants to look at a badly stuffed dead blue tit? If you want to visit an excellent museum then I'd suggest you make your way to Liverpool and visit the World Museum. If you're in Chester and can't be bothered making the trip to Liverpool then the Grosvenor will have to do.

The Grosvenor Museum provides exactly what you would expect from a museum situated in a historic…read moretown. Which is no bad thing. There is a gallery space which has regularly changing exhibitions, and then upstairs there is the permanent collection. The museum also has rooms full of more recent history and a lot of taxidermy including a stuffed zebra which is worth a look. The museum is free to visit which is good. It's not in the middle of town though, so you have to make an effort to walk there, as it's not really on the way to anywhere else. It's not the most interesting of places for children although I expect they would enjoy the stuffed animals, especially the zebra.

This is an amazing museum that chronicles the history of the great city of Liverpool…read more Great exhibition highlighting the people that made the city what it is. You can spend a lot of time at this museum... it has three floors, but my favorite was the third floor. it was about the people of Liverpool, who they were, the cultures they brought with them, and the many personalities that came out of the great city. One of my favorites was the film about the city's two football clubs, their history, and how, despite being cross park rivals, bring the city together over and over. Liverpool and Everton are integral to who the city is and football is the thing that binds them. The music section was just as good. The small film about the Beatles and how they became the global sensation that they are and the city the egg that spawned them. Alongside, the Fab4, you will find that many other stars have come out of Liverpool too... like Black to Bowie. Also, many stars have made their way from the Merseyside as well. Working your way downward, you find out more about the businesses that developed the town into a city, and the medieval to industrial booms. Sugar, timber, and people made their way through the city. I personally enjoyed the information about the city's military regiment. The museum is very interactive on all floors and is interesting for folks of all ages. We had a fun time. Look for the superlambananas! Tip: Work your way through the museum from the third floor then downward.

Spent there almost 2.5 hours! Variety of exhibitions, exploring history of the town from ancient…read moretimes to nowadays, also touching on important social subjects such as slavery and discrimination. Fascinating and informative look into the past. Added bonus - views from the upstairs are great! The museum is free of charge, although donations are welcome.

Well - we were meeting friends on Sat and with us all having little kids, it seemed like a good…read moreplan to head out for some fresh air in the park - being the North West of England though, unfortunately the weather let us down and we came up with Catalyst as our plan B! And it was a great plan B because inside this 'chemistry science adventure park' there were loads of interactive experiments, exhibits and loads of areas for the kids to run around. It was £5.95 per adult, kids are £4.95 and our 18 month old was free entry - not a bad price to pay for a few hours entertainment. The onsite cafe was standard stuff but their lentil soup seemed to be the best bet against frozen and fried/microwaved stuff and was tasty enough! Some of the exhibits looked like they could do with a slight sprucing up and some modernisation but a lot of fun was had. Great views from level 4 observatory tower too!

We only visited to see the Northern Ireland exhibition. It's a very light touch. I wouldn't…read morerecommend it to anyone seriously studying our horrible history. We lived through this civil war for about 30 years. There's no sense from this exhibition that the British Army murdered 13 innocent people in Derry and it took over 50 years for a British prime minister to apologise after failed cover up and repeated denials. There's nothing about State sponsored murders. There were no CS gas canisters on display although they were routinely used and impacted many innocent folks living in their homes. The rubber bullet on display isn't the first generation I saw used - the ones I saw were far thicker and larger and I saw them fired at head height which wasn't permitted. The murderous IRA and their loyalist equivalents aren't condemned either. Northern Ireland was a hopelessly divided place from its creation over 100 years ago and I'm not convinced it's changed much for the better.

Wow, I was thoroughly impressed with this museum. It wasn't somewhere I was particularly keen to…read morevisit, but it's free and we had some time to kill in Salford Quays, so we thought we would have a quick wander around. Well, to be honest, I didn't want to leave! The museum presents a history of war from World War I until present day Afghanistan. This is done in such an informative and interactive way it will appeal to people of all ages and backgrounds. I have to admit that I didn't even know how WWI started until I visited here (the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Serbia if anyone's interested). The items they have on display are fascinating and emphasise the written words immensely well. My favourite interactive item was the mystery smells from the trenches - uumm, is that mustard gas or smelly feet?! There were models of planes, tanks and barrage balloons. There was exhibits about the role of women in WWII, there was information on the Cold war, the Falklands war, the Gulf war etc etc. It was a little depressing to watch history repeating itself over and over again but in a world full of politics, religion and greed (and oil) this is consistently going to be the result. The shape of the building is also unusual so you never really know how far around the museum you are. The building design from the outside is beautiful and contemporary but at the same time fits well into its surroundings. They usually have a special exhibition - this one was on war correspondents, but unfortunately I ran out of time to look around. There is a coffee shop and gift shop at the end, and plenty of staff available if you need to ask any questions. Best of all, the museum is free to enter, they just ask for donations and you can also buy a guidebook with all proceeds going towards the running of the museum.