Educational Day Trips to Liverpool from Chester
The Meek Family
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This time last year we were staying in Chester, gearing up for the Good Life Experience festival that takes place not far away in Hawarden estate, in Wales. We have returned for the same reason and are once again spending the week before the festival at Chester Fairoaks Caravan Club site. Last year, we explored Chester but this time we travelled further afield to see other sites in the area, including Liverpool, somewhere the girls and I had never been to. We went in search for some educational sightseeing.
Liverpool
Access into Liverpool is really easy from the site. Buses run regularly from the Design Outlet down the road (a 15 minute walk away). The number X8 bus leaves approximately every half hour and takes about 50 minutes to get into the centre. This saves having to drive the motorhome into the city centre and having to find a car parking space large enough to accommodate us. The fare for a family of four was £10 return which seemed very reasonable to us.
The purpose of our trip was educational. We visited two of Liverpools's free museums. Our first port of call was the Walker art gallery where we wandered around the John Moores Exhibition, gazing admiringly and inquisitively at the 50 short-listed British paintings. We each chose our favourite (non of which were selected as the judge's prize winners) and the girls made their vote.
After a break, wandering through the busier shopping streets to get a bite to eat and stopping to watch some of the street artists entertain the public, we returned to the World Museum. This museum has four floors of exhibitions that include an aquarium, an Egyptian exhibition (which was closed due to refurbishments), a planetarium and themes covering Space, Minibeasts, Dinosaurs, World Culture and Conservation. We wandered throughout the museum focussing on various points of interest, beginning with a fascinating insight into the world of Bugs. Aimed primarily at children (but fascinating for everyone!), this exhibition displays information about various UK and worldwide creatures. There were fascinating facts to be read and tanks containing cockroaches, spiders, praying mantis, stick insects - some of which we could have stayed to watch for hours. After spending a significant amount of time in this section of the museum we wandered into the area that housed shells, skulls and hundreds of specimens of beetles, butterflies and other insects. We got talking to one of the men that worked there and were enthralled as he led us around the room, pulling open drawers and pulling down display cases with various beautiful, ugly or fascinating specimens to gaze at.
We also explore the space section (Amy's passion) and wandered around the area dedicated to conservation before having to leave as one of the last visitors out as the doors closed behind us.
Across the Mersey
Another easy trip to make from the Caravan Club site is to Berkenhead, south of the Mersey. Buses run not far from the site and take you to the Seacombe ferry port, where you can catch a ferry across to Liverpool. On the banks of the Mersey, next door to the ferry port is Space Port - a museum dedicated to Space and space travel. A three-in-one ticket can be purchased for entrance to the Spaceport, ferry cruise and U-Boat Story - which is exactly what we did.
We spent about four hours exploring the Spaceport, reading facts, listening to information and interacting with the large selection of activities in the Interactive zone. We also experienced the Explorer 1 Space ride and were the first to watch a film in the Space Dome with the newly installed projector Amy loves space and was in her element. She wrote a review of Spaceport for TripAdvisor: https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g1076968-d1931106-r418937134-Spaceport-Wallasey_Wirral_Merseyside_England.html#REVIEWS
After a quick bite to eat we caught the ferry from the nearby Seacombe terminal and boarded the Snowdrop, one of the brightly coloured vessels that are decorated using the Razzle Dazzle technique. The ferry during the day becomes a cruise trip with added information given over the tannoy. It is a very pleasant ride even in the dreary The ferry took us further along the banks of Berkenhead and we stopped at the U-boat story. This is a small exhibition at the ferry terminal; artefacts, sound bites and information are displayed for visitors to explore before heading outside to see U-534, a U boat that was bombed and sank at the end of World War Two. At the entrance we were greeted by Michael who accompanied us around the museum. He was amazing and knew everything there was to know, providing us with a very comprehensive tour. It was a fascinating exhibition and being able to see the U-boat in sections made the history really come to life. Ella's follow up work was to write a review about the ferry trip and U-boat Story: https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g209958-d1931125-r418942646-U_boat_Story_Birkenhead-Birkenhead_Wirral_Merseyside_England.html#REVIEWS
Our extended stop at the U-boat Story meant we had little time to spend in Liverpool. We boarded the snowdrop once again and crossed to the other side of the banks for a quick wander around before returning to Seacombe and our return to the site.
There might not be a Caravan Club site in Liverpool but it is certainly easy to get to from Chester. There is so much to do and see that I'm sure we'll be returning another day for more!
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