CATEGORY · RAINY DAY APPROVED

Caves, Mines & Underground in Liverpool

Underground days out here mean one real find right in the city and a couple of longer trips if you fancy the drive. Western Approaches sits beneath Liverpool's streets, a genuine WWII bunker with wartime shop fronts and an Operations Room where the maps still sit, and it's from £1 to get in. For colliery history there's a longer trip out to Manchester, where the Lancashire Mining Museum CIO is free and lets you wander a real site with a 98ft headgear, colliery cottages and a miner's canteen. Western Approaches works well indoors on a wet day, and it's cheap enough not to sting. If you go further to Manchester, the mining museum suits older kids who want to see a real headgear up close, and there's a cafe on site. Mount Sion Steam Crane, also out that way, adds free crafts and guided wildlife walks on its Canal Fun Day, good if you don't mind a longer journey for a free day out.

✓ 5 places✦ 2 free to visit