National Maritime Museum Falmouth (National Maritime Museum (Falmouth))

Member Name: lubyloo

Product:	National Maritime Museum (Falmouth)
Date:	18/06/09 (30 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great for rainy days

Disadvantages: Not so interesting for little children

Whilst we were in Cornwall on holiday a few weeks ago we visited the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth.

We decided to use the park and float at Falmouth, which we actually really enjoyed. It cost £10.00 for a family of four and we went to the museum by bus which was interesting through the little streets and then we came back by boat. It means you park on the outskirts of Falmouth and don't have to find parking spaces and you get a boat ride as well which we all really enjoyed. With the ticket we also had a discount at the Maritime Museum - wether they do that all the time I don't know.

At the musuem we paid using club card vouchers (days out ones) it's a great way to go and see these type of places. It would've cost about £26 for a family of four.

It was an interesting place, our girls liked it aged 9 and 6 but I can't say they were enthralled! neither was I. Although for a day out indoors away from the weather it was very good. I know that sounds contradictory but I'm just being honest it was a kind of yes it's interesting and passes the time but not a wow! place!

The things we did enjoy there were the lookout tower which looks over the harbour. The girls enjoyed that but were a little bored after a few minutes, I could've stayed and watched the comings and goings of the harbour for a while! It also has interesting information about the boats in the harbour.

There is a weather part at the museum, which looked very interesting and was interactive, unfortunately it was a little beyond me and not easy to understand, some of the interactive stuff wasn't working and the girls to be honest really weren't interested in this.

There was a cafe although we didn't use it, it looked clean and nice, if a little pricey.

On the ground level were two types of life boat that the children could play in, the girls had great fun in there and could have stayed all day I reckon!! they thorough enjoyed pretending to rescue people from the sea and putting on the life jackets!

Also on the ground level is a boat lake (not huge!), it costs 50p to have a go, you get a token and put it in the machine and away you go - or not as the case maybe, you have to learn how to use sails and the wind which blows out from the side of the lake. The girls throughly enjoyed that although needed a little help from us to steer! It was great fun for them.

The best bit of the museum I felt was the 'under the sea viewing area', it's only small which supprised me, but actually it's quite good, you go down some steps underground and there are two narrow but huge windows which look out to the harbour so you're basically looking into the sea. However beware you need to go when the tide is at lease high or half way in or out, if you go at low tide you see nothing!! as you are standing there if the tide is coming in very slowly you notice that the water level has crept up the window. There is a fish feeding machine outside up above which automatically feeds the fish so you can see them swimming around. You can also see shrimps. We all really enjoyed this bit even though we were there very close to low tide, I can imagine when the tide is full in it's amazing.

All in all we had a good day and probably could've spent a little longer there than we had time for.

Summary: A good day out