Nantwich, Cheshire
Hack Green was a real thing: a hardened government bunker in the Cheshire fields that would have run the North West if the worst had happened. It is now a museum, and the reason it works is that the kit is still there, in the rooms it was used in, and not arranged behind glass in a heritage centre. It is underground, dimly lit, and the subject is nuclear war. That is fine for a curious eight year old and a lot for a nervous five year old, and the Small Spies strand only goes so far towards softening it.
Prices are £17.50 for an adult, £11.50 for a child aged 5 to 16, £15 for a disabled visitor and carer, £10 for a disabled child and carer, and £48 for a family of two adults and two children. That looks steep until you read the small print: every ticket is an annual pass, valid for a year of return visits. Practically, it is open 10am to 4pm and closed Mondays and Tuesdays except on bank holidays and during school holidays. They ask you to arrive before 3pm because the tour runs to an hour and a half or two hours. There is a NAAFI canteen and a museum shop, toilets, parking, a cinema showing period material, and dogs are welcome. Children get the Soviet Spy Mouse Trail.
Worth knowing: Child tickets start at 5. Underground, dim and in places loud, so better from about 7 up.
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