Storyhouse is a charity that puts a library, theatres, an independent cinema and a restaurant under one roof on Hunter Street, and for families the library is the part to know about. The children's section, The Den, has a storytelling room and a lot of books, and the library keeps what Storyhouse says are the longest opening hours of any library in the UK: 8am to 11pm Monday to Saturday and 9.30am to 11pm on Sundays.
The regular programme costs nothing. Rhymetime for pre-schoolers runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10am and 11am, and Crafty Weekends put out a different craft every Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4pm. At weekends the cinema shows a family film at 10.30am for £4 a ticket.
School holidays add more. For October half term 2026 there is a free Horrible Histories quest round The Den on 24 and 25 October, and the Christmas show, Rapunzel, runs from 4 December to 3 January.
What it costs: Library, Rhymetime and Crafty Weekends are free and drop-in. Weekend family film screenings were £4 (£3.60 for members) when we checked. Theatre shows are priced separately.
Storyhouse's own Christmas show, Rapunzel with pop songs, dance and comedy. Every performance is captioned, with a relaxed performance on 27 December at noon, audio description on 20 December and BSL on 2 January.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
Chester's Roman story done properly: real 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.
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.
One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.