Rossendale, Lancashire
The Whitaker is Rossendale's museum and art gallery, on Haslingden Road in Rawtenstall. It is small enough to do in an hour and free, which takes the pressure off: if the four-year-old wants to leave after twenty minutes, nobody has wasted a ticket.
Entry is free. There is an Early Years activity studio, and the family programme is genuinely busy: Mini Makers craft mornings, family films, theatre and seasonal days such as a Winterfest with story time with Santa in December. Some of those are ticketed, the galleries are not.
The museum opens Wednesday to Sunday, 10 to 4, and late on Thursdays. MANR, the restaurant on site, keeps longer hours and takes table bookings, so it works as a rainy afternoon with tea on the end.
What it costs: Museum entry is free, donations welcome. Some exhibitions and events are ticketed, booked through TicketSource.
Three family days in a row at Rawtenstall's free museum: a Trash to Treasure make on Wednesday, a Hocus Pocus family film on Thursday, and a family theatre show, Kindness Karl, The Misunderstood Devil, on Friday. The galleries are free either way.
The museum's winter weekend, with Story Time with Santa running alongside Winterfest on both days. Detail was thin when we checked, so treat it as a festive add-on to a free museum visit and book the Santa slot if that is what they are there for.
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Twenty-four themed climbing walls in Haslingden, harnesses on and an hour in the arena, from age 4. The Leap of Faith off the top platform costs extra and is the bit they will want to do twice.
A dry ski slope on the hill above Rawtenstall where the family draw is tubing: 50 minutes of sliding down in a rubber ring, age 5 and up. Snow not required, and never promised.
One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.