National Waterways Museum
A real working dock kept as a museum: historic narrowboats, locks, indoor galleries, boat trips and a waterways playground. Under 6s free, and the annual pass costs less than two visits.
Blue Planet Aquarium
Ellesmere Port, Cheshire
One of the UK's bigger aquariums, with a moving-walkway tunnel where sharks glide overhead - the moment every child remembers. Rays, otters, piranhas and dive shows fill the rest.
Everything is under cover, which makes it the region's most dependable washout-day big hitter. Go round the tunnel twice; nobody minds.
The tunnel is 71 metres, one of Europe's longest, and it holds one of the continent's biggest shark collections, sand tigers included. Stand still on the moving walkway and let it carry you; the second lap is when children stop flinching and start counting teeth.
The diver feeds are the schedule to build around, and the touch pools and rockpool talks fill the gaps. It pairs with Cheshire Oaks next door, which is either a bonus or a threat depending on your relationship with retail. For age eight and up with nerve, the aquarium runs actual shark dives in the main tank, no experience needed, booked well ahead.
What it costs: Book online for the cheapest entry; the gate price is consistently higher. Open 10am to 5pm daily, last entry an hour before close.
Know before you go
- The shark tunnel moving walkway is the moment - go round twice, nobody minds.
- Check the dive-show times on arrival and plan the loop around them; the tank is a different place when the divers are in.
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Whitby Park
Ellesmere Port's main park: two play areas, a skatepark, tennis courts, formal gardens and a fish pond, with Theatre Porto in the old hall. Free, with free parking off Stanney Lane.
Hooton Park Hangars
Three of the oldest surviving First World War hangars in the country, holding historic aircraft, vehicles, engines, a Chester tram, a printing museum and cockpits to sit in. Volunteer run, and open on set days only.
Ellesmere Port Sports Village
Ellesmere Port's biggest leisure centre: two pools, a cafe, parking on site, and a day that runs from half six in the morning until ten at night on weekdays. Under-threes swim for £2.
Rivacre Valley Local Nature Reserve
184 acres of wooded valley and brook a minute off junction 7 of the M53, and the traffic noise is gone two hundred metres in. Paths, picnic meadows, a permanent orienteering course, bluebells in spring.
Stanney Woods Local Nature Reserve
Twenty two hectares of ancient oak and birch woodland with a small free car park, level compacted paths and no gradient steeper than 1 in 10, so prams and wheelchairs manage it. No toilets, and the gates shut at five.
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.