Chester Zoo
Excellent, but it is a lot of walking. Reviews rate 5 to 10 as the ideal age and still recommend a pushchair at four. Climbing frames, water play and sand pits break up the distance.
Grosvenor Museum
- Cost
- Free entry
- Ages
- 5 to 11
- Where
- Chester, Cheshire
- Weather
- Works in the rain
- Booking
- Just turn up
Chester's Roman story with the real evidence: 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 for a morning. Combine with the city walls circuit and a river boat from the Groves.
Know before you go
- Open Tuesday to Saturday 10.30am to 5pm and Sunday 1pm to 4pm. Closed on Mondays, except bank holiday Mondays.
- There is no lift. The Roman galleries on the ground floor are the step-free part; the Natural Cheshire gallery upstairs means carrying the pushchair or leaving it.
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What visitors say
★★★★★ 4.4 across 1,159 Google reviews.
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The Ice Cream Farm
A small entry fee, then £4.50 a go for most attractions: sand and water play, mini golf, bouncy pillows, a racing track and soft play, all funded by what the farm calls the world's biggest ice cream shop. Cheap to get in, easy to spend in.
The Crocky Trail
More than a kilometre of muddy obstacles, rope swings, wobbly bridges and big slides through a Cheshire valley. Children come off it filthy, soaked and asking to go round again. This is the point; dress accordingly.
Beeston Castle
A ruined castle on a crag with views from the Pennines to the Welsh mountains, a reconstructed Bronze Age roundhouse and woodland paths below the walls. Castles do not need roofs to work for this age group.
Grosvenor Park & Miniature Railway
Chester's Victorian park above the river, with a miniature railway looping the lawns, a good playground and open-air theatre in summer. Pair with a boat trip from the Groves below.
Flip Out Chester
A big warehouse of trampolines, drop slides, laser tag and e-karts on the business park before Chester. Loud, sweaty and reliably popular, and the off-peak slots are the value play.
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.