Blue Planet Aquarium
Sharks over a moving walkway tunnel, all under cover. A dependable answer to a washout forecast that still feels like a proper day out.
National Waterways Museum
Ellesmere Port, Cheshire
The old Shropshire Union dock complex at the bottom of Ellesmere Port, run by the Canal & River Trust. Historic boats sit in the basins, the warehouses hold the indoor exhibitions, and outside there are locks to peer into, a waterways themed playground and boat trips on selected days. It is a proper place that happens to be a museum, which is why it works on children.
Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm, and seven days a week in the summer holidays and October half term. Do the boat trip or the playground first, save the galleries for flagging legs, and let the Waterside Cafe absorb lunch. Parking is free, there are baby change facilities in several buildings, and dogs are welcome on leads. Most families get two to three hours out of it.
What it costs: Adults £13.25, children 6 to 15 £9.95, under 6s free, family of four £32.50, with 10% off booking online. Annual passes: family £58.50, adult £25.50.
Know before you go
- Boat trip sailings are limited, so book them before you travel rather than hoping on the day.
- Think you might come twice in a year? The family annual pass is £58.50 against £32.50 for one day, so a second visit makes it pay.
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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.
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