Not this week. Ever since we've lived in York, I've heard about the wonders of the Deep in Hull - the only submarium in the world, no less - http://www.thedeep.co.uk/. I was slightly sceptical about whether it could be as good as everyone says. However, given that Rachel gets excited when I take her to see the fish for sale at our local garden centre, I thought it was a fairly safe bet that she'd enjoy it, so off we went.
We booked online - you can just turn up, but it's 10% cheaper online (and you don't have to commit to a specific date), and the queue is far shorter for pre-booked tickets. It's not the cheapest attraction (about £9 per adult, and not much less for children, although under 3s are free), but they give you a form which you can then use for free entry, as many times as you like, for a year. If we lived in Hull, I could imagine getting a lot of use out of it! As we're an hour away, I'd imagine we'll go once or twice more, but even that makes it pretty good value for money.
Once you're in, you take a lift to the top of the building, and gradually work your way through the exhibition down towards the deepest level. There is a mixture of small tanks, interesting exhibits, interactive activities/buttons to press etc, centring around a spectacular, massive tank where the most exciting fish can be found. Rachel found it absolutely fascinating - any time there was glass to press her nose up against, we couldn't tear her away:
We didn't spend a massive amount of time reading labels, so I couldn't say I know more about fish than I did this morning, but as entertainment goes, it worked for both the toddler and the adults!
As you reach the bottom, you walk through a tunnel underneath the tank, and really have the sense of being surrounded - this was my favourite bit. Then, the glass bubble lift takes you slowly up again, through the water, pausing midway so you feel you are really among the fish.
...and so to the cafe.
We didn't think about practicalities at all whilst we were there, and this is testament to how well designed the Deep is...it is a linear exhibition (in the style of Ikea?!) taking you from start to finish, which could potentially be tricky when working with small children whose eating/resting etc needs don't necessarily schedule themselves around an attraction's timetable. However, pushchair/wheelchair accessibility is fantastic, and facilities such as toilets, cafe etc are dotted around at regular points, meaning that you can forget about them and enjoy the fish!
The only minor complaint we had was that quite a few of the interactive exhibits didn't seem to be working - it didn't materially affect the visit but was a bit of a shame.
There are events - divers, feeding time (?), films etc. We didn't actually see any of these so would try to catch some next time!
So, definitely worth the drive to Hull, and I can't rate it highly enough for a couple of hours' entertainment (or more, probably, if your children are bigger / you're an adult and want to read all the labels etc. My only tip would be to go early - we arrived just after it opened at 10, and came out about half 12. It wasn't too busy for us, but the car park was absolutely rammed by lunchtime, so I would imagine it was a bit more crowded then; there's plenty of space inside but you could find yourself queuing to look into some of the tanks.
