The Natural History Museum, London

The Natural History Museum is home to one of the largest natural history collections in the world from microscopic slides to mammoth skeletons. The building itself is impressive with cathedral like structure, frescoes and sculptures and the central hall is home to an astounding Diplodocus skeleton.

The museum is divided into four coloured zones. The green zone concentrates on facts about life, the planet, environment and evolution. The red zone explores our ever changing planet, how it was shaped and its place within the universe. In the blue zone you can marvel at the diversity of life on our planet from blue whales to the smallest invertebrates. Finally the orange zone takes you into the Wildlife garden (open between April and October) and to the Darwin centre although you need to book an explore tours to do this.

Most young boys make a pilgrimage to the museum just to see the dinosaur exhibits but there are numerous daily activities, behind-the scenes tours and you can borrow an explorer backpack complete with binoculars and hat!

Plenty of places to eat, and you can take your own picnic. Best advised to plan your visit in advance and the website can help you do this.