2 places in Maryport, Cumbria. Everything below is within easy reach if you live locally.
Maryport is a harbour town with two good reasons to stop, and they suit different children. The Lake District Coast Aquarium sits on the harbourside with over 75 displays, a seahorse and lobster hatchery and a feeding talk every hour. Tickets are £14.75 an adult and £8.25 a child, under 3s free, and crazy golf comes free with every ticket. The free pirate-ship playground out the back, with free parking beside it, stretches the visit well past the fish.
Up on the cliff, Senhouse Roman Museum stands beside the town's Roman fort and holds Britain's largest group of Roman military altar stones. That sounds like a hard sell to a seven-year-old, and on its own it might be. Wednesday finds handling and the fort tours on Thursdays and Sundays change the picture, because children get to hold things and walk the ground. Adults pay £7, children £3.50, under 5s go free and parking is free. Time it for a tour day.
Harbourside aquarium with over 75 displays, a seahorse and lobster hatchery and hourly feeding talks, plus crazy golf free with every ticket and a free pirate-ship playground out the back. Parking by the play area is free.
Clifftop museum beside Maryport's Roman fort, holding Britain's largest group of Roman military altar stones. Wednesday finds handling and fort tours on Thursdays and Sundays make it work for children. Free parking.
Not in Maryport, but close enough for a day out.
England's biggest lake from the deck of a proper boat, on colour-coded routes from the 45-minute Islands cruise out of Bowness to the Yellow run down to Lakeside. Combo tickets pair it with the aquarium, the steam railway or the motor museum.
The old national park visitor centre on the Windermere shore, now run by BeWILDerwood and still mid-makeover. The grounds are free to wander; Minty Land indoor play, Zip World's treetop courses, Wild Bounce and the lake cruises are the paid extras.
Peter Rabbit's world recreated in walk-through scenes, ending in the garden with Mr McGregor's vegetables. Squarely for the under-8s; it is small, sweet and unashamed of it.
A small, well-done aquarium at the quiet end of Windermere with an underwater tunnel walk beneath the lake's own fish, plus otters and rays. Pairs naturally with the steam railway next door.
A short, perfectly-formed steam line through the Leven valley that connects with the Windermere boats at Lakeside. Do train plus cruise and you have built the classic Lakes day without a single car park argument.
Thousands of vehicles and period pieces packed into a riverside mill, with the Campbell Bluebird story told properly in its own gallery. One for kids who like machines; a surprisingly good wet-weather card.
England's only true mountain forest: the Room on the Broom trail, Gruffalo orienteering, the WildPlay trail, red squirrels if you are lucky, and Go Ape for older kids. Views over Derwentwater thrown in.
An anti-gravity room where water appears to run uphill, a hologram gallery and a room that shrinks the grown-ups. Cheap, indoor, and exactly the right length for the age group.
One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.