A Grand Day Out : Chatham Dockyards

To celebrate Mr B's birthday he decided to go on a family day trip to Chatham Dockyards. They currently have on an exhibition called "War Games" about children's games through the decades, which is what mainly appealed to Mr B as he had been to the Dockyards before but it was new to me and Tom! The prices are £19/adult, £11.50/child (5-15 yo), family ticket £49.50 (2 adult 2 children or 1 adult 3 children). The tickets are valid for a year for multiple visits. 

We enjoyed the exhibition, it was smaller than I had expected but this stopped Tom losing interest, there were also a few interactive areas such as trying on costumes! 

We did not look around the whole site as we intend to use the yearly pass and visit at different points through the year, there are areas both inside and outside so it has suitable rainy day activities. We enjoyed a tour that was a projected interactive story about how ships were originally made, it was so much more interesting than I had anticipated and Tom seemed to enjoy watching it aswell! Oh and there was randomly a police box on the site, or a TARDIS in my opinion! 

We also looked around a small ship, which was not totally buggy friendly but we managed to see the majority of it and I didn't feel that we missed much. As Toms walking improves I think I would return and he could look at the areas we missed. Tom really enjoyed ringing the ships bell!

Driving around the site there were small steam trains running back and forth and without a doubt this was Tom's favourite thing! The drivers were really friendly and would smile and wave at Tom, which he really loved. The trains gave the site a lively, bustling atmosphere and really added something special to the day!

 

We ate lunch on site, there were several options to eat and we chose The Wagon Stop Canteen as it seemed the most child friendly as it contained a small soft play area! The menu was mainly sandwiches, pies and jacket potatoes all at a reasonable price with a good variety of flavours. I had a minted lamb pie and it was lovely and flavoursome. I would definitely recommend eating here again if we were to eat on site, although on a nice sunny day it would also be good place for a picnic. 

Overall, we had a great family day out and I am already looking forward to retuning and seeing the things we missed, and that's a good sign! The price is good as it will last a year and I know we will make use of that but if I was a tourist I would have to get there very early to make the most of it. I would strongly recommend going to the tour as it really stood out to me. 

On a side note, Chatham Dockyard is just over the road from Chatham Outlet Shopping Centre, and if you are not wanting to eat at Chatham Dockyard restaurants then there are multiple food outlets there, including fast food if you need something cheap and easy. It's also a good place to bargain hunt and we ended up getting a new Next dining set for under £13! Happy days!