To be surprised at adults not knowing most museums are free?

[FelineFatale]

I've met recently at least four people who didn't know this. One said they didn't take their children to museums because they can't afford it and the other three just thought you had to pay.

I'm close to two of these people and when I said I was amazed they didn't know this they stated most people think you have to pay for museums.

They don't, surely?!

You can enter any cathedral for free if you are attending a religious service. St Pauls, for example, has a hefty entrance fee, but no charge if you are there for the service. I actually prefer this as the building itself is only part of the experience. I much prefer to visit places of worship (of any religion) when they are being used for their intended purpose.

I think what surprised me is to not realise any museums are free, you must've rarely been to museums and even if you live somewhere where they aren't free, that means you've rarely left your neighbourhood. "

I think your post is just an excuse to be judgey!

Stonehenge. Bronze age monument of not just national but worldwide significance . £55 for a family

I suppose it's the lack of exposure to museums I find shocking more than anything else

Other people do things differently from you - shocker! 😱

With a few exceptions, I find museums are rather dull. I’m glad I wasn’t dragged to them as a child. Unfortunately DD loves a museum and has to read everything so I’ve had to endure more than my fair share with the “ooh, that’s interesting” attitude us parents are great at faking.

museums are free
Of the multitude we have visited, the vast majority have been paid for, not with a donation but as an admission fee. I’ve never been to a free one that was better than a paid for one.

"Most" museums aren't free at all. It's the big ones that are free, usually in the cities. Even then, there's massive pressure for you to make the "suggested donation" on your way in, by making your stand in a queue waiting to be "greeted". Then once instead, there are expensive shops for souvenirs, and expensive cafes for lunch. Outside London and other major cities, you'll have a hard job to find a so-called "free" museum.

Stonehenge. Bronze age monument of not just national but worldwide significance . £55 for a family

And fairly rubbish visitor experience, with not enough shuttle buses since they built the new visitor centre.

Stonehenge. Bronze age monument of not just national but worldwide significance . £55 for a family

I managed to park there using NT membership (i think it is EH site?)and pressed my nose up against the fence.

I can go to local standing stones for free, which is just as well as I rarely leave my neighbourhood these days.

I don't think I've ever made a donation at the science museum is that new? We've been dozens of times, and we certainly couldn't if one had to donate (because, yeah, cost of travel, food etc in London).

I've been to a couple of small free ones but no I've mostly paid for entry. So can see why they'd think that.

Museums are hugely reliant on donations because as with every other sector they have been strangled since austerity, there is huge pressure on them to generate income.

They've not changed in the last 9 years under so-called austerity! I went to several "free" ones in the noughties under the "money tree" Brown years, but there was the same pressure to make the suggested donation on your way in.

None are free here yes London has free museums but the train costs £275 for me and dh plus 3 dc (trains not free for dc outside of London). I know they're expensive as we do go to museums. You sound like and ill-informed knob.

You can enter any cathedral for free if you are attending a religious service. St Pauls, for example, has a hefty entrance fee, but no charge if you are there for the service. I actually prefer this as the building itself is only part of the experience. I much prefer to visit places of worship (of any religion) when they are being used for their intended purpose.

I’m quite the opposite - I feel like a freeloading hypocrite attending a service as I’m an atheist. My interest is in the architecture and history, and I see it as fairly reasonable for the church to want heathens like me to pay to poke around their nice building.

In some of the big cathedrals you’ll be restricted to one area if you go for a service. Depends on what you go for/get out of it.

Well, we live a significant distance from Stonehenge, and could only visit as we were passing to elsewhere, and I think my children would have cried if we'd looked through the fence instead of going in. They adored it! (And yes, I went as a child, for free, and the road went right past and we parked for nothing and wandered around it. Such a different experience! So amazing)

I don't think I've ever made a donation at the science museum shock is that new? We've been dozens of times, and we certainly couldn't if one had to donate (because, yeah, cost of travel, food etc in London).

Asking for a donation isn’t new, but in recent years they’ve redesigned the entry so you have to go through a ticket desk to go in, so you actually have to say ‘no’ to a donation rather than walking by the box.

Lots are free but many have the big suggested donation box right in the entrance plus the obligatory gift shop that many parents feel pressured to go into.

Oh Jassy, you could just use your running away fund for cathedral entrance fees, surely?

I don't think I've ever made a donation at the science museum shock is that new?

Just to clarify, entry to the Science Museum is free, and a donation is entirely optional. They just try to make it awkward not to donate, and obscure the voluntary nature of the donation.

Just looked up my nearest 10 museums. 5 were free and 5 were not.

The ones with the admission charges tend to be the bigger, more exciting ones.

Some of the big ones of national importance ie: housing national collections/archives are free, because they are largely funded by public investment - near me this includes the National Railway Museum, Royal Armouries, National Mefia Museum, National Coal Mining Museum and Yorkshire Sculpture Park, although the later has a fairly steep parking fee (and the Coal Mining Museum charges for parking during school holidays). Other museums we have visited, which are often smaller, private collections, or of limited local interest do need to charge to cover their costs, and make a profit for their owners. Leeds, Sheffield and Kirklees Councils charge a minimal fee for their museums eg: Armley Industrial Museum, Leeds was about £10 for a family ticket, and occupied us for a good 3 hours.

I am a huge fan of museums, my dad reckoned I’d been to every museum in London by the time I was 10! He met well have been right. My school was in South Kensington and faced the Natural History Museum, then my high school was a short walk from the Tate Gallery - I have bed. To both 100s of tomes! At weekends we worked our way from the RAF Museum in Hendon down to the Horniman Museum in Penge. Happy Days.

Ah, yes I've been through the new entrance, and I obviously look impoverished as they didn't even ask!

I've seen Stonehenge from a traffic queue every time we go past on the way south west. Have never felt the need to 'go in' as it were.

Oh Jassy, you could just use your running away fund for cathedral entrance fees, surely?

That’s pretty much exactly what I did when I moved to the UK.

(This really is the favourite username I’ve ever had. You come across so many fellow travellers!)

'I don't think I've ever made a donation at the science museum shock is that new?'

Yes I think so! I've been loads of.times before, but last time it was entrance via a desk as if you were going to pay and then they ask you for a donation.

If you go when it's quiet and no queue you can walk past, if it's busy then you are stuck queuing to say 'no, I'm not donating'.

You probably should donate though. They won't be free or even open much longer if they don't get enough donations. Only needs to be £5.

@bsc and how else do you suggest English Heritage pays for the upkeep of its sites? Millions of people visit Stonehenge (and others) every year. It's not cheap to maintain. And the fees you pay to see Stonehenge go back into other sites as well.

The govt severed English Heritage several years ago. It's now a charity. The goal is to become self-sufficient by 2023. From what I hear (although this is just through the grapevine so do take it with a pinch of salt) it is not going to meet that goal.

We either pay to conserve our heritage or we lose it.

@Kazzyhoward they get very limited funding from central government, I'm glad the affects of austerity aren't visible to you, but I assure you the heritage sector is struggling, drastically so. But donations have always been necessary, government does not fully fund even the free museums, they subsidise them. The costs in maintaining collections and making them accessible are huge, it is not Alton towers looking to make huge profits, they churn the money straight back into collection management and development. Museums are expected to generate their income in a variety of ways, it's a huge commercial venture to raise enough funds to maintain the activities of the museum AND keep admission free.