The Dock Museum
Built over a Victorian graving dock, with collections running from Vikings and Romans to the shipbuilding that made Barrow. Free entry, free parking, and an adventure playground outside.
Sandscale Haws National Nature Reserve (Roanhead beach)
- Cost
- Free entry, pay car park (NT members free)
- Ages
- 2 to 14
- Where
- Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria
- Weather
- Mostly outdoors
- Booking
- Just turn up
Sandscale Haws is the National Trust's dune reserve on the Duddon estuary at Roanhead, a few miles north of Barrow, and for families it is mainly a beach: a huge stretch of sand backed by grass-covered dunes, with the Lakeland fells across the water. New boardwalks take you from the dunes down to the sand, which helps with short legs, although the paths through the dunes themselves are undulating and uneven.
It is a serious wildlife site too. A quarter of Britain's natterjack toads live here, along with rare dune plants and more than 20,000 wintering waterfowl, which is a useful fact for a child who thinks a beach without an ice cream van is pointless. Dogs are allowed on leads. The one real warning is the estuary itself: the National Trust asks everyone to keep off the inter-tidal area because of its deep channels.
Facilities are thin. The countryside is open dawn to dusk, the welcome hut is closed, there are no refreshments on site, and the toilet block only opens in the summer season. The car park is small, about 35 cars, and non-members pay through JustPark or the machine while members park free. The Trust's March 2026 access statement put a full day at £5.
What it costs: Free to walk in. Non-members pay to park through the JustPark app or the payment machines; National Trust members park free. The Trust's March 2026 access statement listed £1 an hour, £2.50 for three hours or £5 all day, charged 10am to 4pm.
Know before you go
- Stay out of the estuary's inter-tidal area: the National Trust warns of deep, dangerous channels.
- The car park holds about 35 cars and there is nothing to buy on site, so bring food and drink and have a plan B for a sunny weekend.
- The toilets have no lights and only open in the summer season, so out of season there are none.
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Also in Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow Park
Forty-five acres of Victorian park in the middle of Barrow, with a boating lake, a miniature railway on Sunday afternoons, putting, a glasshouse and a play area. Free, and next door to the swimming pool.
Barrow Park Leisure Centre
Barrow's main pool has a proper leisure pool beside the 25m lanes, with a wave machine, a water slide and a Pirate Cove water play area. Pay as you go, no membership needed.
Furness Abbey
The ruins of what was England's second richest Cistercian abbey, in a wooded valley on the edge of Barrow, with a small exhibition of knights' effigies and a build-your-own-city trail for children. Book by the night before and it is 15% cheaper.
Mini and Me Role Play Village
A child-sized pretend village in Barrow with eight themed pods, from a supermarket and a vets to a salon, a building site and a sensory snug. For under-8s, booked sessions only, and small on purpose.
South Walney Nature Reserve
The southern tip of Walney Island, where Cumbria's only grey seal colony hauls out and about 250 bird species have been recorded. Cheap, wild and memorable, as long as you check the tide first.
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One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.