Half term days out North west England

[Glitterbells9]

I am in Cheshire, looking for a last min day out tomorrow with my boys ages 9 and 7.5 years old.

Ideally indoors as it is so cold 🤣 don't mind travelling up to an hour.

Any places you can recommend?

We have recently done:

Soft play centre (with younger cousins)
and a trampoline park with older cousins.

I was thinking Eureka but just read bad reviews of how busy it is this half term.

xx

Eureka is pretty rubbish! Have you tried sandcastles in Blackpool, indoor swim centre, lots of slides etc x

Thanks for that at nearly £70 + parking and a long drive Id have been annoyed, I went as a child and loved it but cant recall how old I was 🤣🤣 (or what was there) xx

What about Chester op? Grosvenor museum was good and donation only i think. Think the boat cruise should also be open half term. There is a nice park near the river too, if you brave the cold.

Blue Planet aquarium?

How far are you from Manchester? The Manchester Museum is amazing

Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester is good. Or the Museum of Illusions? Oxygen has just opened at Media City but that's maybe a bit too similar to what you've already done. Bewilderwood was doing BOGOF tickets for half term. That's outside but if the kids are running round they probably won't notice the cold!

Jodrell Bank. Styal Mill. Walk in Macclesfield Forest and pub lunch/tea. Ice Cream farm at Wildboarclough. Park at Teggs Nose Car park. Walk down to Langley and back, then snack at tearoom.

Thank you all, off to google these ideas! X

Manchester museum, museum of science and industry and also whitworth gallery are good. They have a fabulous drumming workshop on this half term. All are free. Also football museum in Manchester, I’ve never been as mine don’t like football but footy fans say it’s good.
Liverpool world museum is also good

Chester zoo?

We also went to a little medical museum called 'Sick to Death' in the Rows in Chester at the weekend. Lots of gore, plague and poo which went down a treat with my 8 year old.

The snow park at Chill Factore?

Jodrell bank is a good shout but a lot of it is indoors.

Manchester has loads of museums, Police museum, Manchester museum, MOSI, football museum, peoples history.

Lots of national trust places, Quarry Bank Mill is good as lots indoors and interesting.

Chester for the walls and Roman museum.

York (too far?) For Jorvik.

Train museum in Bury.

Stockport Air raid shelters.

Liverpool docks and Tate

I love Eureka but your kids are far too old for it.

Liverpool - world museum is absolutely brilliant. Close to the train station.

Hack Green Secret Bunker near Nantwich. That's really interesting, and easy to find.

What about things like laser quest, cinemas?

Please don't go to Blue Planet aquarium, it is dire. Extremely overpriced and you'll be done in 45mins.

Other ideas. .. GravityMax, Nerf Gun centre at Trafford Centre, Ninja Warrior, British Ironwork centre, a climbing centre.

I was so disappointed in eureka when I went in the summer hols. It was SO busy that we missed most of the interactions. I wouldn't go again tbh.

I follow a family called the patmores on Instagram and they share lots of lovely ideas of activities in the north west!

Things I've enjoyed recently -

Play factor at the Trafford Center
The climbing wall inside chill factor at the Trafford Center
The fun arena
The forbidden corner
The crocky trail
The flower bowl entertain center (bowling, cinema, curling, crazy golf, pool)
Stockeld park (amazing indoor play area!!!)
Billy bobs parlour with outdoor play and barn

If they're into scooting / BMX / skateboarding then Graystone is brilliant with the added bonus of a great cafe with good music, food and excellent coffee

You can hire scooters / skateboards and safety equipment if necessary

Chester - sick to death museum, Wizard indoor golf, there is also a new place called Challenge Point on the rows which looks fab!

Even just walking along the rows!

challengepointchester.com/

😭 Sad ive missed that one! Xx

Woah thanks, I haven't heard of half of these! Love finding new places. Xx

We all love Crocky trail, it really is brilliant, but definitely more suited to warmer weather.

Someone up thread mentioned stockeld park and it is brilliant, although there's so much to do outside as well as inside so maybe better when it's a bit warmer. Try not to go when it's boiling like we did as the indoor area was very hot!
Liverpool world museum is good, as is MOSI in Manchester and they have a new exhibition from operation ouch which looks good for that sort of age.

Quirky Quarter in liverpool. It's all illusion stuff. Might be booked up as it's half term though.

Jorvik is not worth the trip from Chester. It's barely worth the trip from elsewhere in Yorkshire.

York as a whole is good though, especially with the Viking festival at this time of year.

Eureka is great, we go all the time. Just book tickets for the early slots and it's not that hectic, even in the school holidays. Your kids are definitely not too old either, our NCT group (eldest kids are 9 this year) still get a lot out of it!