Walton Hall & Gardens
The reliable default: gardens, a children's zoo, a big playground and plenty of room to run. Pay for parking, nothing else.
Warrington Museum & Art Gallery
Warrington, Cheshire
The museum sits behind the library off Bold Street and it is free, which puts it ahead of most wet afternoon options before you have walked through the door. The collection is a proper old municipal one, north of 200,000 objects, heavy on archaeology and natural science, and displayed in a way that still has the Victorian cabinet feel about it. Children who like bones, beetles and things in jars do well here. Free craft activities run on Saturdays and through the school holidays, there is a schools programme, and there is a room called Creativity Cove which doubles as the only place in the building where you can eat and drink.
Write the opening pattern down. Wednesday to Friday 10am to 4.30pm. Saturday 10am to 4pm. Sunday 11am to 3pm. Closed Monday, Tuesday and bank holidays, with last admission a quarter of an hour before the doors shut. There is a lift, accessible parking on Museum Street, cycle racks by the library entrance, and Bank Quay station is a seven minute walk.
What it costs: Admission is free. Prices for any ticketed workshops are not published on the visitor page.
Know before you go
- Closed Monday, Tuesday and bank holidays, which rules out most of the days people go looking for a free indoor activity. Check before you set off.
- There is no cafe, so take a flask and a packet of biscuits and use Creativity Cove, the one room where eating and drinking are allowed. Sunday is the short day, 11am to 3pm, with last admission a quarter of an hour before closing, and an hour is about right for primary aged children anyway.
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What visitors say
★★★★★ 4.6 across 538 Google reviews.
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