Grosvenor Museum
Chester's Roman story done properly: real tombstones from the fortress walls, a hands-on natural history gallery, and a walk-through period house at the back. Free, central, and the right size.
Museums & science Chester
Museums & science in Chester
Hands-on museums and science centres. Several of the best ones are free.
3 in Chester1 free3 indoor
The free one is the Grosvenor Museum, which does Chester's Roman story properly and is the right size for an hour. Deva Roman Experience is £8 an adult and £5 a child for costumed legionaries, reconstructed streets and deliberately bad smells, but check the day before you drive in: weekends in term time, midweek in the school holidays. Cheshire Military Museum is the cheapest at £5 an adult and £10 for a family, and it has a First World War trench you walk through inside what survives of Chester Castle.
Museums & science in Chester
Cheshire Military Museum
Chester Castle still has a museum in it: three hundred years of Cheshire soldiering, a First World War trench you walk through, a barracks room and a decent amount you are allowed to pick up.
Deva Roman Experience
Chester's Jorvik-style walkthrough of its Roman fortress: costumed legionaries, reconstructed streets and deliberately bad smells, tucked off Bridge Street. Weekends in term time, through the week in school holidays.
Museums & science elsewhere in the North West
World of Glass
Free, indoors and better than it sounds: interactive science aimed at younger children, glassblowing demos, a picnic area and a small playground outside.
World Museum, Liverpool
Five floors, free, and it covers three things small children reliably love: giant dinosaurs, an aquarium and a space gallery. The best wet-weather day within half an hour.
Catalyst Science Centre
Hands-on science galleries and a glass rooftop observatory over the Mersey. Small, cheap, indoors and close.
Science and Industry Museum
Working steam engines, the story of Cottonopolis, and hands-on galleries in the world's oldest surviving passenger railway station. Free, and the live demonstrations are the bit kids actually remember.
Manchester Museum
A T. rex skeleton cast, live frogs in the vivarium, Egyptian mummies and a genuinely good natural history floor. Free, university-run, and less overwhelming than the big London equivalents.
National Football Museum
Shirts, trophies and match footage across six floors, with penalty shootout and skills games that football-mad kids refuse to leave. If yours do not care about football, skip it - it is exactly what it says.
What’s on near you, every Friday
One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.