Although both my husband and I have lived in the South East all our lives, neither of us have ever visited the Historic Dockyard at Chatham. Luckily we were invited to visit and try out their programme of Summer Fun activities, and are so pleased to have found this hidden gem!
Here’s what we got up to:
Pirate Activities
There was a whole load of pirate themed activities to take part in, including a pirate puppet show, pirate crafts, exploring HMS Gannet (the ‘pirate ship’) and an enormous sandpit.
Doc.Yard’s Techsplorers
Both of my children absolutely loved this. It starts with 30 minutes of science based tasks, such as creating and testing an air-powered car or folding an Origami popper.
This is followed by an interactive show featuring Doc Yard and his assistant Bunsen, who run through a whole host of gas based experiments (including a very large bang!). It was really good fun and something completely different.
Lego Brick History
This is part of the nationwide exhibition of scenes from history created in Lego. At the Historic Dockyard the Lego models are housed in glass cases to wander around, but there’s also a Lego table and giant bricks for children to play with.
Our Verdict
We all had a brilliant time at the Historic Dockyard, it was somewhere new for us and very different to our usual day trips (usually involving animals and soft play).
There was an excellent array of activities and the team had clearly put a lot of thought into the small details too. Things like chalkboard tables to draw on, an inflatable life raft to climb on and sharks in the water by the HMS Gannet really made the day for us.
We spent the best of a day at the Dockyard and that was without seeing any of the permanent exhibits there. We did get to test out the excellent cafe though!
Prices start from £22.00 for an adult online, and children get in for only £1.00 during the Summer. The tickets are valid for 12 months so you can return again and again.
*This is a collaborative post.