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!

YABU they should charge us a fortune.

RAF Cosford is free admission and it bores me to death looking at the 'dead planes' but the DC love it!

We also went to the car museum at Gaydon. There is an entry charge but if you gift aid you can go and look at the 'dead cars' for a year without charging again. The DC love this one too.

I'm not a major fan of transport museums (can you tell).

Great North Museum in Newcastle and Discovery Museum both free. So is NRM in York. Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh ditto, and is fantastic.

At what age is it worth taking children to museums and galleries? Is it something good to do during maternity leave?

Most museums welcome preschoolers and all ages - both locals and nationals run story telling sessions and activities for younger children (check websites) and even if not, it's worth going as you never knkow what may attract their attention

YANBU - and fab for single people too! The Museum of Scotland is my 'happy place' - I'll often go when I need a half-hour break from uni, which of course I wouldn't if I had to pay.

The Science Museum in London is fab. Went for a day trip with 2yo DD and wasn't sure she'd like it so wouldn't have gone if we'd had to pay. It was a great day, she thought it was brilliant (cried when we left the space bit as she didn't realise there was more to see ) and we had money left for some delicious food.

I'd really recommend the shows they put on for the kids. We watched the bubble one and it was brilliant.

Ulster Museum in Belfast is brilliant. I have a six and four year old and they love the dinosaurs, the old fashioned toy/dress up bit and the slightly creepy taxidermy section. They are a wee bit frightened of the Mummy but that seems to add to the excitement. The best bit however is the pop up map they give to the kids with stickers to mark what they have seen - genius

hmm - I'm going against the flow here. I think they should be free for those who live in the UK and can produce a passport or indefinite leave to remain stamp. Not sure they should be free to tourists though who have made little or now taxable contribution to their upkeep.

at the risk of sounding daily mail'ish I agree with married. I was at the natural history museum today and I would say at least 60% of the visitors were tourists from abroad. Charging a small amount to these visitors would raise much needed income and when we have travelled there has usually been free entry/discount to nationals.
had a lovely time as went ice skating with ds late afternoon with the money we saved on entry - v christmassy!

I do think the cafe and gift shop prices are shocking though-so it must make up a little bit for the free admission. At RAF Cosford you have to pay to park too.

Has anyone been to the National Army Museum? It's free too and I hear they've got a soft play area. DS (4) and DD (3) are both into soldiers with shiny uniforms but I'm wondering whether there's lots of grim reality of war too - which I'm less keen on them exploring just yet.

Emaily - the Army museum is brilliant, not too scary either. www.nam.ac.uk/kids There is a fantastic soft play although it is quite small but good for the age of your DCs. The soft play sessions are an hour long, although the first one used to be an hour and a half. If you get there and it's full they are normally very sweet and give you a ticket for the next session. Best to call in advance though, because it is very popular for birthday parties and they close the sessions often at weekends for parties. We used to live nearby and went there very often, before the soft play opened even.

while I agree that it's a good thing museums are free, I don't agree that non-uk residents should be made to pay. Whenever I've been, it's the "foreigners" who are making quite large voluntary contributions and the brits who are not donating anything!

I agree with married, where I live there are chuff all museums but we do have an Abbey. Non local residents have to pay to get in but residents get in free with a pass.

I imagine it's because it's paid for via our council tax which is fair.

The museums make their money back from the cafe and shop. If there is an entry charge then people won't buy anything. But they don't mind spending money in the cafe if the visit itself is free. It's a very exact science! :)

Free museums can be great. Some not so... it varies. Trouble is, it costs so much to get to them. I'm near London but the cost of travelling to London for me and the children combined makes it a very costly day out. It is lower cost for us to drive South to places like Fort Nelson.

Royal Armouries Leeds and Fort Nelson are Free admission.

Just spotted an article on this very topic in the Guardian. Very glad to see that Charlotte Higgins agrees with me! :) www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/28/free-entry-museums-precious

Sorry link is www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/28/free-entry-museums-precious

All the museums in glasgow are free i think the freeness was gifted years ago , i also think some of edinburghs are free too used to take the kids to kelvingrove and the transport museum 3 or 4 times a year , great days out and of course free

And now that I'm googling the subjec (instead of working!) I've found a handy list of all the free national museums. www.nationalmuseums.org.uk/free-admission/ There are 50 around the UK, not just in London. Any on this list near you Spiderpig8?

It is good. At halfterm we had a week in Paris bookended with London. Even with the museum passes in Paris and most places free for youngsters, there was still a lot of paying and queuing. Wherease Science Museum and British Museum - just wander in. Lovely.

We're near enough to Manchester to benefit from the Museum of Science and Industry (brill) and the others.

Marriedinwhite I can see your point, but free museums do offset the fact that London in particular is very, very expensive even compared with a lot of other European capitals. I think more charges would mean less tourists (and tourist revenue).