Victoria Park, Widnes
Widnes's flagship park with a summer splash pad, big playgrounds, a skate park for older ones and a bandstand cafe. The local free default, minutes from Catalyst.
Catalyst Science Centre
- Cost
- £13 each until 31 Oct, annual pass included
- Ages
- 5 to 11
- Where
- Widnes, Cheshire
- Weather
- Works in the rain
- Booking
- Just turn up
A hands-on science centre in a former chemical works, topped by a glass observatory with views up and down the Mersey. Small enough to do properly in two hours, and the sort of place you go back to rather than tick off.
It is the thinking-family's wet-morning option: interactive galleries below, the rooftop as the finale, and Victoria Park's splash pad five minutes away if the sun appears.
Autumn 2026 is a halfway house. The first-floor Birth of an Industry gallery closed in September while the Synergy Project, paid for by a £1 million National Lottery Heritage Fund grant, turns it into a new interactive gallery on why Widnes counts as the birthplace of the chemical industry, due early 2027. The observatory, the theatre, the lab and the interactive gallery stay open, and until 31 October every ticket is a £13 annual pass, so a visit now also covers a return trip to see the new floor.
What it costs: Until 31 October every ticket is £13 a person and is an annual pass, while the first floor is closed. Children 3 and under and one-to-one carers are free. The standard prices on Catalyst's own site are £11.50 an adult and £9.50 a child, or £15.95 and £12.95 with an annual pass, plus £2.75 a head for a workshop or science show. Open Tuesday and Wednesday 10am to 2pm, Thursday to Sunday 10am to 4pm, closed Mondays, last entry an hour before closing.
Know before you go
- Tuesdays and Wednesdays it shuts at 2pm, so on a term-time weekday either go early or go on a Thursday.
- The £13 autumn ticket lasts a year, and the rebuilt first floor is due in early 2027, well inside it.
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What visitors say
★★★★★ 4.4 across 1,125 Google reviews.
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