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.
Half term opens with a Miniature Steam Weekend, then a week of children's activities with, the museum says, a few spooky Halloween happenings. Detail was thin when we checked, so treat it as a museum day with extras.
Father Christmas in a snowy woodland grotto inside the museum, with the option of a festive canal boat trip first while an elf runs stories, games and a Christmas quiz. The grotto ticket covers up to two adults per child and gets you into the museum for the rest of the day, which is the useful bit on a cold afternoon.
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Sharks over a moving walkway tunnel, all under cover. A dependable answer to a washout forecast that still feels like a proper day out.
Ellesmere Port's main park and a Green Flag one: a play area for children up to 12, a wheels park, parkour kit, climbing boulders, free tennis courts in season and a fish pond, with Theatre Porto in the old hall. Free, with parking off Stanney Lane.
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'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.
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.
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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