At-Bristol Review

07/04/2013

1,432 6 minutes read

At-Bristol

www.at-bristol.org.uk

Reviewed by Sarah Hicks

I was very excited to be asked to review At-Bristol – its official description is "Science Museum" but it's nothing like the museum's I remember as a child, and whilst it is very educational – don't let that fact put your children off! First and foremost it's a major fun day out!

We went as an extended family group – so hubby and me, our 4 children – Lily 5, Sid 3 and twin boys Sonny & Stanley nearly 2, and my Mum and Brother – one adult per child – was the plan!! We arrived early – 10.30 am (doors open at 10am).

The fun started the minute you walked through the door, with enthusiastic staff there to entertain the queues whilst you waited to pay – although there weren't actually any queues when we arrived, they engaged the children straight away with a bit of bean bag throwing (well that's what it was with my children, I think the general idea was to help teach juggling, but mine were a little too young for that!) The staff created a very welcoming atmosphere.

Entry is gained by purchasing a wristband which children and adults have to wear for the day – this does mean you’re free to leave and re-enter the site as often as you like during the day – but the wristbands also allow you to save, download and then access at home, loads of information/animations from the interactive exhibits on site. It is at point of entry you can also pay extra for tickets to a presentation in the planetarium – with under 5's in our party we bought tickets to "Little Stars" a show especially aimed at under 5's, in length and content, tickets were 50p each, so a very reasonable price for an add on.

We'd taken a picnic with us for the day, which for 8 of us was pretty hefty to carry round, a great plus when we got in was that there were lockers you could use for a £1 deposit (like when you go swimming) so we were able to dump that and our coats straight away and get on with enjoying the exhibits.

The children were keen to get their hands on stuff straight away, and we certainly weren't disappointed, as soon as you get in you are greeted by a huge water exhibit which the children (and when I say children throughout the review, read adult as well!) are able to pump water in different ways, move waterwheels, turn wheels, pull leavers and if you angle things right – get people wet!! After we'd "done" the water section the children moved onto exploring other exhibits with gusto – pressing this, turning that, giggling at what happened next! For the adults in our group it was a pleasure to watch them really enjoying themselves.

There are over a hundred exhibits to check out on site and they are grouped into various areas – including the Curiosity Zone, Flight Zone, the Build It area and a dedicated under 8's section.

My children are at the younger age range that At-Bristol is aimed at, (in fact there were quite a few adults without children at all, who were thoroughly enjoying all that was on offer) so some of the educational aspects of exhibits were a little lost on them, but it didn't take away from their enjoyment. They enjoyed being able to touch everything and get a reaction, not fully understanding some of the exhibits didn't bother them! And Mum and Dad were always there to offer explanations when the children wanted them. (Mum and Dad were able to look knowledgeable by reading the information provided on each exhibit!)

Some of our favourites included launching rockets on parachutes, releasing them and watching them float down – sometimes gently, sometimes not so gently! This was a huge hit with Sid particularly. My youngest 2 were below the age limit for payment to enter, but that didn't mean that there was nothing for them – in fact they enjoyed themselves hugely – definitely not a day that they were going to take a nap in the pushchair! Their favourite exhibit was what can only be described as a 20 metre length of huge vacuum cleaner hose that travels up, down and around a small area, that you put balls in one end and you can watch them being sucked along on their journey and they then appear out of another hole – I'm thinking of getting one for home as they would have been happy for hours to transfer balls from one area to another!

We were lucky to visit only a week after a new exhibit had opened on site – "The Big Build" was a big hit with all of us, it really brought all age ranges together – it's basically huge Lego blocks set in a building site backdrop – the idea being that the kids can build the walls to the house, and there are also roof tiles that need to be fitted to make the house water tight.

Being a roofer was great fun, but I'm not sure I saw any of the children building walls for the house as intended, but building your own little house was hugely popular – we built three – one which enclosed the children, one in which the children enclosed me and another just so we had the enjoyment of knocking it down!! These bricks again, would be something we'd love for home!

My eldest, Lily, had great difficulty choosing what her favourite part of the day was – it changed several times, but I think she finally settled on making butter. She made this in the Kitchen Chemistry area. This particular experiment involved 4 bowls of double cream being mixed by different methods – electric blender, hand blender, whisk and spatula – to see what would happen – this activity was led by another enthusiastic member of staff – who explained to the children about getting air into the mix and then once the butter was made, providing crackers to taste it on, yum!

There were lots of very friendly helpful staff around to help with exhibits, and the member of staff who presented the information in the planetarium was great too. All of them seemed to love their jobs, and really took joy in imparting information to the children (and adults) when appropriate.

A few hours into our visit we were ready for lunch – there is a cafe on site, which seemed really popular serving all the usual "coffee shop" type fair – a nice selection of sandwiches, Panini’s and an all day breakfast – at reasonable prices too. (Highchairs were also available)

As I mentioned earlier we'd taken a picnic for our day out, and there was a lovely picnic room/area with plenty of bench seats and tables, lots of highchairs and some vending machines for you to use for when you bring your own food. I must say, it was also VERY clean and tidy (as were all the public areas and the two sets of toilets that I visited).

After lunch there was still plenty to explore – we attended our planetarium show, which was enjoyable for all of us – even the babies behaved! Also in addition to the exhibits was a "Top Tricks" free magic show, which had the older two children (and my husband!) enthralled.

We stayed until 5.30pm (site closes at 6pm) so it really was a full day out. Whilst it was busy during our visit (we went on Easter Sunday) you never had to wait to do something – and with the really popular exhibits (Wallace and Gromit’s animation studio) you didn't have to wait too long to get involved.

I thought it was great value for money for the whole family and would definitely like to go again, and I think that this is one of those venues where you would really get the best value out of an annual family pass which you'd only have to use 3 times before covering your entrance fee's – we could all quite happily go once a month and not get bored!

One thing I would advise – if you can take one adult per child in your group – go for it – they will get so excited by everything to do, that you won't be able to contain them!

Tickets cost: child £8.25, adult £12.90 or family ticket £36.50 (please check website for up to date pricing).

Rating: 5/5