Bolton spent its cotton money well: the Egyptology here would not embarrass a national museum, and the recreated tomb of Thutmose III, painted wall to wall, is the kind of thing children walk into and just say 'whoa'. Mummies, the natural history floor and the little aquarium in the same building round it out, although the council says the Nature Gallery is partially closed for maintenance at the moment.
It is free, it is warm, it is next to the library, and the café does a decent toastie. It opens every day: 9am to 5pm Monday to Saturday (9.30am on Wednesdays) and 10am to 4pm on Sundays. File under rainy-day certainties.
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A hands-on farm above Bolton: pets corner, meet-and-greet sessions, tractor and trailer rides, donkey rides and a zoo zone, with activities timetabled through the day. Open every day of the year bar three, and £45 for a family of four.
Bolton's big free family park: two decent playgrounds, a miniature railway, a seasonal funfair and The Hive, a Wildlife Trust nature-play garden that charges £2.50 a head and is worth it for under-sevens.
Bolton's restored Victorian park: a proper playground with a mini zip line and a sand pit with a toy digger, a cafe with public toilets in sight of it, and the River Croal running through. Free, including the Spa Road car park.
Bolton's biggest recent soft play opening, with a sports court and a gym room alongside the frame. Adults are a pound, which is the number that decides where you go on a wet Tuesday.
An independent at Westhoughton with an outdoor play area as well as the indoor frame, go karts on top, and a baby sensory room for the under ones. Free parking.
The soft play bolted onto Bolton's big trampoline park, so the four-year-old and the eleven-year-old can both be occupied in the same building. Over 115 trampolines next door.
One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.