Great days out in the UK

East & West Midlands

Black Country Living Museum, Dudley
www.bclm.co.uk
The Black Country Living Museum is an interactive tribute to the traditional skills of the people who lived in the industrial heart of Britain. Visitors can enjoy a diverse range of activities, from lessons in an old-fashioned school to visiting an underground coalmine. Ticket prices apply.

National Space Centre, Leicester
www.spacecentre.co.uk
This award-winning attraction is the UK's largest centre dedicated to space exploration. From the minute you set eyes on the futuristic Rocket Tower, you'll be transported into another dimension for hours of exhilarating fun and discovery. Ticket prices apply.

Foxton Locks, Leicestershire
www.foxtonlocks.com
Set in the heart of rural South Leicestershire, you can spend hours watching colourful narrowboats ascending the 'staircase' of locks, whilst discovering the wildlife in the side-ponds. Free admission.

Making IT! Mansfield
www.makingit.org.uk
Making It! is an exciting interactive family attraction that looks into the technology and design behind our everyday lives. Here you can use a robot to assemble a finished product, put your head into a virtual fizzy drinks factory and even star on the front page of a newspaper and then print it! Making It! is only open to the general public during school holidays. Ticket prices apply.

Torrs Millennium Walkway, Derbyshire
www.derbyshire-peakdistrict.co.uk
Entering the Torrs Riverside Park, deep in a gorge below the centre of New Mills, and it immediately becomes apparent that this walk is different from any other in Derbyshire. It has a dramatic start and finish and is an inspiring - and easy - four and a half mile walk. Free admission.

Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Derby
www.derby.gov.uk
With a wide range of important and attractive collections, covering porcelain, paintings, archaeology, history, local regiments, geology and wildlife, the museum and gallery is a must for art lovers. Free admission.

Millennium Point, Birmingham
www.millenniumpoint.org.uk
Millennium Point has welcomed more than one million people through its doors every year since it opened in 2001. It is home to two major visitor attractions: Thinktank - Birmingham's science museum - and the spectacular IMAX cinema. Ticket prices apply.

Whittington Castle, North Shropshire
www.whittingtoncastle.co.uk
Whittington Castle is believed to be the only castle in the UK which is owned and run by its local community. It also has a fascinating history with links to Dick Whittington, Robin Hood and even the Holy Grail! Free admission excluding parking.

Divided World, Connected World, RAF Museum, Cosford
www.rafmuseum.org.uk
Housing 70 aircraft, this fascinating museum is home to dozens of war planes and missiles. The newly opened National Cold War Exhibition, with its interactive kiosks and hotspots, gives visitors a unique chance to see what life was like behind the Iron Curtain. Free admission.