I write this review having only just visited the museum over the weekend as I decided to take my dinosaur-obsessed four-year-old nephew to see them. I also want to point out that we did not visit the entire building (which is attached to the Pitt Rivers Museum), just one of the main halls.

Building and exhibitions:
The museum is housed in a beautiful architectural building and the main hall contains a variety of material: dinosaur bones and skeletons; other skeletons including elephants, crocodiles, and deer; stuffed animals; and rock minerals. Within the main area there is also a shop and reception desk.

As for the items, they are fascinating delights for children. My nephew was absorbed and very excited to see a full-sized Tyrannosaurus Rex. What I think also made it good for him was that some of the displays were set out specifically for children to touch; other items were clearly identified as 'Do Not Touch'. This allowed children to gain a tangible impression of what these animals and minerals were like. This was an excellent thing that the museum did.

Also, we did spend less than an hour in the main hall before leaving. Now, you may think, well that's hardly any time at all. For a four-year-old, it was just right. My nephew wasn't overwhelmed with masses of exhibitions or information, which could have bored him, and because of the size of the collection in the main hall, we didn't spend too long in there that his attention span waived. In fact, he talked about nothing else for the rest of the weekend.

Accessibility:
The building is no doubt beautiful but it is perhaps not entirely accessibility-friendly, or at least from what I could see. The main entrance is by several steps and no ramp is provided. Obviously, they would have to make provision somehow for wheelchairs but I could not immediately see any facilities. What's more, many people had left prams and pushchairs in the foyer so children were being carried around the exhibits.

If you manage to get a pram or wheelchair into the hall, most of the aisles are wide enough, but there were tight corners.

Costs:
In comparison to many of the tourist attractions in Oxford, entrance to the museum is free, which is ideal for those who may not have a big budget. They do request donations but obviously the choice is yours.

The shop:
When you go to these places, the shop always seems to be a place you need to go and visit. This shop was relatively small and contains many soft toys, post cards, book marks, and other similar gifts. Costs of these item were quite diverse. Some seemed really reasonable, but others a little expensive for what they were. For example, a teaspoon costs £17.00 and a bookmark £1.50.

Queues are likely in the shop. However, they have not placed any sort of queue control into the area so you cannot really see who is in the queue and who is browsing - beside the fact that there is not really anywhere to queue.

The shop appears to take the usual cash, cheque and credit cards (so long as total is above £5.00)


Overall, I thought the Natural History Museum was a wonderful place to go. It kept my nephew interested and delighted by what was going on. If people had a hour to spare in Oxford, or wanted something fairly reasonably priced, I would recommend a visit.