Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovil

We visited with family-in-law and both my husband and my brother-in-law thought it was brilliant. My 3 1/2 year old son on the other hand spent quite a bit of time asking when we were going home...... As it was half term there were special spy related activities taking place around the museum which my neices really enjoyed, but again were too advanced for my son. The best bits for him were sitting in the cockpit and pretending to fly in the the exhibit behind the Concord (you have to look for it or you'll miss it), watching the helicopters from the car park, and the outdoor play area. Please note that the play area does get rather muddy under foot and then that mud gets transfered onto all of the equipment, onto clothes, hands etc. Good job my son was wearing wellies and I had a pack of wetwipes.... The aircraft carrier exhibition was very good although my son and I missed out the 'flight deck' bit as it was far too noisy for him. We took a picnic so didn't try out the restaurant, and my husband was impressed by the toilets. All in all not going to be top of my 'places to return to' list, but not bottom either. I guess I would be happy to go again in a few years time or if we were passing and needed to occupy ourselves for 2 hrs.

We've been here a couple of times. I must admit I've always found it a bit boring and dull... but then I'm not into planes. My other half and my Dad have always been quite interested in the displays. Last time we went we thought our son (I think he was about 3 and a half at the time) might be interested in it, but he really wasn't too bothered. My favourite bit (and even this I didn't really enjoy that much!) is the flight simulator where you pretend to get on a noisy, windy helicopter and they fly you out to a ship... the whole thing involves a lot of standing about looking at model people and audio about the scene you are looking at before moving onto the next one. It takes about 40 minutes. For a 3 year old and a baby it's just too much, and you can't really 'abort' half way through. Also, if you've got a buggy you have to take a different route to move through the simulator and it can take a bit of jogging to catch up with the main party who have been able to use the stairs. You can go and walk through a real life Concord plane, and when we were there we were lucky to witness a couple of military helicopters practicing take off and landing which we could watch through huge panes of glass. This was the highlight for our two. We've never bothered with the restaurant as we usually come here after a morning at Haynes Motor Museum down the road (I personally think a better use of a few hours). I think on the whole our kids are too young for this place just yet - perhaps we'll try it again when they're about 8 or 9. Maybe.

A very informative place giving you all the information you could ever need on the history of flight. Nicely laid out over a large area so plenty of space to move about. There were some colouring sheets available but these were too young for our children. We enjoyed watching the Concorde video and then climbing onboard. We also liked the aircraft carrier but it was a bit lengthy. The gift shop was well stocked and the kids all chose a souvenir to take away. We ate in the restaurant and had a quick play in the outdoor play area before we left.

We visited whilst on a big family holiday - big as in loads of us, mostly adults but with a toddler and a baby. We had thought the baby would be too young, but we had thought the 2 1/2 yr old would love it. Unfortunatley not. Our plan had been to arrive, have lunch, then a stroll round. Unfortunately the catering facilities are not that great, so we had a pre-packed slice of cake and carton of juice, then worked out how to get in - HUGE flight of steps and two pushchairs - fortunately they have a seperate entrance for those who can;t do stairs, although it does feel like you are sneaking about! Another starting problem was that they were testing out some kind of thrust engine which mide the most noise of anything I have ever heard - adults found it all quite funny, children screamed their heads off! Once inside, we had no problem losing members of the group - it is vast!! Absolutley briliant for the grown ups, and probably fantastic for children over the age of about 8, as lots of walking, lots of stairs, and lots of creepy life like models! Fantastic that you can actually go inside some of the planes, not so fantastic that you have to pay extra for flight simulator thing. Shop is pretty good too, so lots of pocket money buys, and not all plane related.

This is a great museum but definitely more suitable for the older children (perhaps 6+). As you would expect it has a lot or military planes and there is a whole hall devoted to World War 2. The older kids may find this fascinating and they can certainly learn a lot here, but for the younger ones it could be a bit disturbing. Another exhibit is the ‘aircraft carrier experience’ where you get on board a helicopter and it takes you to a replica aircraft carrier. It is all very realistic but quite noisy and some areas are very dark. Inside the ship it is really authentic but can feel a bit claustrophobic. My son is 7 and loved the museum apart from this area which he found a bit scary. If you do decide to change your mind part way through this exhibit, it is quite difficult to find your way back out. The most exciting hall for us was Hall 4. Here they had a real Concorde that you can go inside and explore. There are various small exhibits around the museum where the kids can have a go at steering a model plane, landing one and looking at the different materials used. A quiz and colouring books are freely available too. Food wise you can eat your picnic on benches outside, where there is also a small play area (which my 3yr old niece much preferred to the museum!). They also have a large café where you can get hot food and snacks.