Leicester - advice please.

[cheekymunchkin]

Off to Leicester soon for a couple of days -plan to visit National Space Centre. Any tips about where to eat, go, visit with under 5's much appreciated. Also any tips about visiting the Space Centre itself??

Twycross zoo is naot far away, neither is Twinlakes at Melton Mowbray. Depends how old your kids are, twinlakes would be better for 4yo onwards to really appreciate it. It is basically a converted farm with loads of soft play for different ages, indoor & outdoor play areas, farm, falconary (not sure if they do this during winter). Depends how far you want travel when you are here.

there are webites for both but I am one handed so can't do links...

I second twin lakes but would say that last time we went to the space centre it was geared towards much older kids than ours 6 and 1.

Will have a think about some others places too.

Whereabouts are you staying?

We are staying out of town at the Marriott but plan a trip into Leicester itself. Hope dss like the Space Centre - they are 5 and 3. Why did you think it was better for older kids Neena?

New Walk Museum has one of the best galleries anywhere for very young children - there are stuffed animals children can touch, which never fails to fascinate them, and lots of interactive stuff they can play with - shadow puppets, fossil excavating etc, tunnels to crawl through.
It also has dinosaurs, a very cool ancient Egypt gallery with mummies, and some nice paintings.
And it's free, of course.

I would agree that older kids get more out of the Space Centre than younger ones - the younger ones will still enjoy it (there is plenty of interactive stuff) but they won't really understand what most of it is about, unless they are particularly into space (which some are, of course).
My younger nephew (he was around 3 then I think) was scared when the lights went dark in the space theatre and we had to go out.
It's a bit pricey too, so it depends how much that is an issue for you, really.

my dh is manager at the space centre cheekymunchkin.It isn't really geared for under 5's,but they get in free & there is quite a lot of interactive stuff for them to do.My dd's who are 3.5 & 22 months enjoy it.

They are very busy at half term,so get there early if you can.I'll ask dh if they still do advance booking so no queueing.

What day are you planning togo?

Your kids would love Conkers and Snibston - neither in Leicester itself, but quite near.

The county (including Leicester city) has a fab website for tourism goleicestershire .