Summer of family fun at waterways museum
The National Waterways Museum Ellesmere Port (formerly The Boat Museum) has a summer of fun on offer to keep every member of the family entertained during the school summer holidays.
The canalside museum will be hosting ‘Barmy Boats’ from 21st July – 2nd August. Visitors will have the chance to try their hand a designing and making a boat from recycled materials and race the finished masterpieces across the canal which flows through the heart of the museum site. From 3rd – 16th August visitors will be able to travel back through time during a fortnight-long Time Traveller event centred around the historic Porter’s Row Cottages (the original dock worker’s cottages which have been lovingly restored to show what homelife would have been like from the 1850s to the 1940s). Visitors will be able to meet the housekeeper, take part in a Victorian wash day, dress up in period costume and try their hand at traditional games from the Victorian era. There will also be special themed arts and crafts sessions. The more motor-minded can see a display of classic cars when the MG Car Owners’ Cub visit the museum site to show off their carefully restored vehicles on 9th August. The pirates return to the Port from 17th – 31st August. Visitors are encouraged to don their best pirate outfit and join Peg Leg Pete’s gang at the museum. The museum will be invaded by a band of pirates over the August bank holiday weekend (29th – 31st August). Gun and sword fights and gruesome pirate surgery will provide the entertainment although there will be themed arts and crafts sessions for the more squemish members of the family. The National Waterways Museum Ellesmere Port is housed in a historic 7-acre dock complex situated alongside the Mersey and Manchester Ship Canal. With indoor and outdoor exhibits, hands-on-activities and quizzes, it is a wonderful day out for all the family, whatever the weather. Daily boat trips from the museum along the Shropshire Union Canal mean visitors can discover more about the history of the waterway and surrounding landscape. The museum, which is open daily 10am – 5pm, is situated just off junction 9 on the M53, 15 minutes drive from Chester and 25 minutes from Liverpool. Normal museum entry fees apply to all special events. Arts & crafts sessions cost an additional £1 per child.
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