to think free entry to national museums is fantastic for families?

[Emaily]

I took DD to the Royal Air Force Museum yesterday and I just have to say how pleased I am that it is free. DH and I are definately feeling "squeezed middle" so I really appreciate having free family outings. It means we can pop in for an hour if we want to. But our favourite place to visit has to be the Science Museum and we could spend all day there!

Tis brilliant I agree, though I wouldn't begrudge a few pounds each, we always gave the kids money to put into the donation boxes.

I love the big free London museums. Once dashed into the British Mus just for an hour to see the Egyptian stuff when DD was doing a school project - just fitted it in around a separate visit elsewhere, which we couldn't have dreamed of doing if we'd had to pay a full entry fee.

Pity that the Imperial War museums are not free. We're close to Duxford: children are free but adults cost plenty.

It's brilliant. We always go to the museums in Manchester in the school holidays and there's lots to do and see.

It would be if we had any near us.

I've been to the RAF museum. Children enjoyed it a lot more than me!
The Science is fab. I'm quite happy to spend a few hours there. Is the Science Museum free? I can't remember.

It is so lucky that they are free. I do try to donate a little. Where we live now there are lots of museums with lots of planned actvities and most are free.

They are wonderful! We go around weekly in the winter as there is so much fun and active stuff to do when the weather is pants. Ours all have great cafes that sell reasonably priced home made food, so we usually have lunch there which we wouldn't be able to do if they charged for entry.

The IWM in London is free -- or at least last time I went.

I think all museums should be free!

My fave museum of all is the Museum of Modern Art in NY and it's $20 to get in

Love the free museums, mainly because when the DCs were younger we wouldn't want to spend too long in there, so to be able to pop in for an hour or so is great.

Went to the Natural History Museum in New York a few years ago (on the trail of Night at the Museum). They wanted to charge us the full "voluntary contribution", but we said we would only pay half (ie just for we two adults, not the three DCs), as I felt it was a fair swap for all the free entries the Americans get to our museums.

Free museums are fabulous for everyone. It's always a shock (spoilt kid!) going somewhere else where they charge, like the Louvre in Paris. EUR 15 per person! I felt robbed

Went to the Tate Modern recently for the first time and can honestly say it is a good job it IS free.

A few things were interesting, the steampunk stuff was fab... but the vast majority of it really was just a case of "why???" and "a two year old could do better"... give me real art any day!

i agree squeaky, some of it is absolute shit.

I love that museums are free, they should stay this way

The liberal in me loves that most of our major museums are free (I was shocked to find out you have to pay for most of the imperial war museums - the only bits that are free are the main london one and manchester).

I've just been to the states it costs 20quid to get into the museum of modern art. Whereas here Tate Modern is free (I disagree by the way, squeaky) so very few families just 'pop' in to expose their kids. I regularly swing by if I'm babysitting my friends 5 year old. At that age they only want to go and see a few things, chat about them and then go for hot chocolate. If you'd spent 20quid though the temptation is to stay too long, bore the kids and turn them off art galleries for life.

If any of you like seeing the paying exhibitions across a range of galleries the National Art Pass makes things much cheaper.

Imperial War Museum in London is definately free because it is another favourite with DS. So is Imperial War Museum North in Manchester. Does anybody know where there is a good website which tells you museums are free?

Free entry in museums is one of the things that makes me proud of this country.

It is fantastic, and not just for families but for everyone. Museums are much nicer when you can just pop in and browse and not feel that you have to try to see everything and get your money's worth.

No idea why this is an AIBU though...

We haven't been to the Science or Natural History Museums since they've been free, because by the time we can get in from our commuter town there always seem to be horrendous queues. The Imperial War is good, and we can get into that.
In the US a lot/most people go free (and we did in NYC) because the place they work for has a membership, they also often give free entry to school trips etc.

Bristol's city museum and art gallery if definitely worth a trip. I saw a fab wildlife photography show there this week which the kids really loved. I like the kids bit with the dressing up stuff too. Charging would ruin the experience so you are NBU.

We love them being fee for all too It's so nice to see this thread!

December weekends before Christmas are usually pretty quiet for visits

But please, a lot of what we currently offer for free is under threat because of government cuts. We generate as much income as we can from our commercial operations, hiring out facilities etc but it's still not enough. Please DO put something in the donations boxes because it really does help. Sadly we are now starting to charge for activities and considering charging admission to really popular bits - National Maritime Museum has just started to charge for admission to the meridian line area.

Sorry, didn't mean this to be a begging letter

I think free museums are fantastic. We love the Horniman in South London and the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green.

I found myself having a heated argument about this very topic just last week with a young tory girl - no kids and too young to remember when you had to pay to get into the V&A, Science Museum etc. She was adamant that our museums should charge like they do in other countries. That would be a real shame and would definately put me off exploring new places with DC. I'm really proud that my kids think a visit to a museum is an exciting treat - rather than the old image of somewhere worthy your parents dragged you.

Yes learningtojuggle - though the exact figure varies from museum to museum, I think that generally visits are 3 times greater than during the charging period. Museums that were particularly popular with families experienced a huge difference in figures.

Now feeling doubly sad that IWM Duxford is not free! for adults.

Always good! YANBU!

St. Fagins is absolutely excellent, and I always enjoy it even though I'm old not as young as I was

YABU. It's bloody marvellous for everybody! Though of course I take your point about family days out.

It's marvellous if you happen to live in London, or to a lesser extent liverpool or manchester.
Not so great for the rest of us subsidising your free days aout when there's little in striking distance for us.

It's a great scheme but I wish there were free museums near me. Nothing in this area which is sad.