CATEGORY · RAINY DAY APPROVED
Museums in Derby
Derby does well for museums that let kids get stuck in rather than just look. The Museum of Making is free and right in the centre, with workshops and maker spaces built on the city's 300 years of manufacturing. A short walk away, Pickford's House on Friar Gate is a free Georgian townhouse with toys and a garden shop, and Derby Museum and Art Gallery on The Strand adds the Joseph Wright gallery and a Coffee House, also free. For something hands-on, Derby Computer Museum lets kids code a real BBC Micro from £5. If you want free days out, the two Strand museums and Museum of Making cost nothing to enter. Toddlers do better at Pickford's House or the Museum of Making's workshops, while older kids will get more from the Computer Museum's vintage machines. For a longer trip, the National Tramway Museum out at Matlock combines vintage trams with a woodland sculpture trail and free return visits, useful if you want to make a full day of it.
26 places 4 upcoming events 10 free to visit
What's on: museums
WED 7 OCT, 09:00 · +3 MORE DATES
Cricketer & Stockinger: Exploring the Relationship Between Cricket & Framework Knitting
Framework Knitters Museum
Free
WED 7 OCT · +95 MORE DATES
Prehistoric Lives in the Trent Valley
Lakeside Arts
WED 7 OCT, 11:00 · +4 MORE DATES
How Did We Get Here? Exhibition at Kedleston Hall
Kedleston Hall
SUN 11 OCT · +16 MORE DATES
Steaming Days at Nottingham Industrial Museum
Wollaton Hall & Deer Park
Places for museums
FreeAbbey Pumping Station
Leicester
Industrial museum with beam engines and vintage vehicles - free entry, but only open on holiday Mondays and special event days.
ToiletsWheelchair accessibleOutdoor playPicnic area+3 more
from £5Creswell Crags
Worksop
A limestone gorge, Ice Age caves and rock art to hunt out, with a museum and lakeside walk to fill the rest of the day.
Accessible toiletBaby changeBirthday partiesBlue badge parking+19 more
from £7.50D.H. Lawrence Birthplace Museum
Eastwood
Explore Lawrence's childhood rooms on a self-guided visit - kids free, adults from £7.50.
from £5Derby Computer Museum
Derby · ages 4+
Kids get their hands on actual 1970s to 90s computers, from a BBC Micro they can code to a Sinclair loading games off tape.
Birthday partiesBooking required
FreeDerby Museum and Art Gallery
Derby · ages 0+
Free city museum on The Strand - Joseph Wright gallery, Royal Lancers displays and a Coffee House.
Bike parkingCaféGift shopFood on site+3 more
from £3Framework Knitters Museum
Ruddington · ages 0+
Real Victorian knitting frames still working, a go at a vintage knitting machine, and a free-to-enter café even on closed days.
Birthday partiesCaféGift shopGroup bookings+5 more
FreeGreat Central Railway (Nottingham)
Nottingham
Free site entry, £3 parking and a flat, buggy-friendly 25-acre site with steam trains, old buses, mini railway rides and a dog-friendly café.
Baby changeBike parkingBlue badge parkingCafé+13 more
from £12.50Jewry Wall Museum
Leicester
Roman bathhouse ruins and interactive museum on St Nicholas Circle - adults from £12.50, kids free through Oct 2026.
ToiletsWheelchair accessibleGift shopBooking required+3 more
from £12.50King Richard III Visitor Centre
Leicester
Museum on the Greyfriars dig site telling Richard III's story - adults from £12.50, under-4s free.
CaféGift shopWheelchair accessibleToilets+1 more
Lakeside Arts
Nottingham
Family theatre shows with puppetry, live music and storytelling at the University of Nottingham's arts centre by the lake.
Birthday partiesCaféFree parkingGift shop+11 more
FreeLeicester Guildhall
Leicester
Free 600-year-old timber Guildhall with medieval galleries and a family quest - open daily near the Cathedral.
ToiletsWheelchair accessibleGift shop
FreeMuseum of Making
Derby · ages 0+
Free entry to a museum built on Derby's 300 years of making, with workshops and maker spaces to poke around in.
Bike parkingBlue badge parkingCaféGift shop+3 more
from £5National Fairground Museum Statfold
Tamworth
Vintage fairground rides, a heritage railway and a soft play barn on one site near Tamworth, plus mini golf outdoors.
Accessible toiletAllergy awareBaby changeBirthday parties+12 more
from £11.50National Justice Museum
Nottingham
A Georgian gaol and Victorian courtroom where actors re-enact real trials and executions, daily.
Accessible toiletBirthday partiesBooking requiredCafé+6 more
from £20National Space Centre
Leicester · ages 0+
A planetarium show, rockets to climb through and hands-on galleries about space, all under one roof in Leicester.
Booking requiredCaféGift shopParking+8 more
from £14National Tramway Museum
Matlock
Ride vintage trams down a rebuilt period street, then loose the kids in a woodland sculpture trail while you eat into a free return visit.
Free parkingParkingGift shopFood on site+6 more
FreeNewarke Houses Museum
Leicester
Free social-history museum with toys, a 1950s street and gardens - limited Saturday and holiday opening, so check dates.
School visitsGroup bookingsPicnic areaLockers
FreeNottingham Industrial Museum
Nottingham
Volunteer-run heritage museum in Wollaton Hall's stables, free entry for accompanied kids, five hands-on galleries, and monthly Steaming Days when the engines actually run.
CaféGift shopGroup bookingsFood on site+2 more
from £4Papplewick Pumping Station
Nottingham · ages 0+
Victorian beam engines and a wooded play area near Nottingham, with steam days when the engines actually run.
Booking requiredCaféCard onlyDog friendly+12 more
FreePickford's House
Derby · ages 0+
Free Georgian townhouse museum on Friar Gate - rooms, toys and a garden shop, Tue-Sat 10-5.
Bike parkingFree parkingGift shopParking+2 more
from £5Retro Computer Museum
Leicester
A hands-on trip through gaming history where the kids actually play the old Spectrums, Commodores and arcade machines rather than just look at them.
Booking requiredFree parkingGift shopFood on site+2 more
FreeSnibston Colliery
Coalville
Former-miner surface tours plus the Into the Dark coalface simulation - no real underground, but a proper Leicestershire pit day out.
ParkingBlue badge parkingEV chargingCafé+7 more
from £11The Children's Country House at Sudbury
Sudbury · ages 0+
National Trust kids-first country house near Sudbury - Museum of Childhood, gardens and cafe from £11 child.
Accessible toiletBike parkingBirthday partiesBlue badge parking+12 more
from £5.50The Staffordshire Regiment Museum
Lichfield
A regimental history museum in Lichfield with free parking and picnic space, open daily with last entry at 3pm.
Accessible toiletBaby changeDog friendlyFree parking+2 more
FreeWatermead Country Park
Leicester
Free country park with a Jurassic play trail, a lake full of birds and meadows thick with dragonflies.
Accessible toiletBlue badge parkingDog friendlyOutdoor play+3 more
from £18Wollaton Hall & Deer Park
Nottingham · ages 0-15
A dinosaur gallery inside a Grade I mansion, plus 500 acres of deer park to walk off the museum legs.
Baby changeBlue badge parkingBottle warmingBreastfeeding friendly+13 more
Good to know: museums in Derby
Are any of them free?
Yes, Abbey Pumping Station, Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Great Central Railway (Nottingham), Leicester Guildhall and 6 more are free to visit.
What does a paid visit cost?
Paid entry starts from £3 at Framework Knitters Museum. Prices, ages and facilities are listed on every place page, taken from each venue's own published price list.
Whereabouts are they?
You'll find museums in Leicester, Worksop, Eastwood, Derby, Ruddington and 6 more. Every place we list is in or around Derby, and each listing has the full address and directions.
More ways to plan a day out
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