Jodrell Bank Centre for Engagement

“This is a fantastic place to visit — super interesting and home to one of the biggest radio telescopes in the world. The main attraction is, of course, the Lovell Telescope, with its impressive 250 ft (76 m) diameter, making it the third largest steerable radio telescope on Earth. The site itself is beautifully set up: excellent car parking, clear signage, and well-presented exhibits. The atmosphere is lively — there are plenty of kids running about, full of excitement about space, planets, and life on Mars. I actually loved that as it feels very much like a science paradise for children. Overall, the whole setup is first-class, just what you’d expect from a UK UNESCO World Heritage Site. The only downside is the ticketing system. They only sell annual passes, and when you ask for a day ticket, you get into what feels like a Basil Fawlty–meets–Two Ronnies sketch. Technically, they don’t do day tickets… except they do, but under the name of an annual ticket. If you keep your sense of humour, you might even end up with a 10% discount like we did! On the plus side, the staff are all super friendly and helpful, which rounds off the experience brilliantly.”

“We had a really lovely experience at Jodrell Bank Centre for Engagement. It’s a fantastic place to visit with children. There is an indoor museum, activity room as well as playgrounds, so it works well even if the weather isn’t great. The Dome cinema was a real highlight — the film was excellent and very engaging. On our first visit, I didn’t realise tickets could be bought on the day, as it showed as sold out online, so we missed it. On a later visit, we found that staff at the entrance will often ask if you’d like to see a show and you can sometimes buy tickets on the spot. They also provide a helpful schedule for the day. The 30-minute film is definitely worth watching and highly recommended. The annual pass is very good value, especially for families, and each visit feels worthwhile. It’s a great place for children (and adults!) to learn more about astronomy and physics in a fun and accessible way. We would happily return again.”

“Jodrel Bank is a fascinating place to visit. Easy to access with on site parking, a shop, cafe and modern facilities, it's well worth spending a few hours learning about the important scientific history of the site and it's large radio dish which is still the 3rd largest in the world today. There is plenty to explore on the site also. The size and scale of the dish is amazing and the visitor centre has regular screenings of films worth checking out, although it's worth noting that some of these are an additional fee to get in. Entrance for an adult is around £18. If you're in the area I highly recommend a visit.”