The new town hall is a very welcome addition to ballymena. The centre offers lots of various…read moreperformances usually at very reasonable prices. The centre is really well decorated with some excellent art work. The acoustics are really good as well. In my opinion this is a really positive change for ballymena and improves the image of the area.

What a fascinating place just across from the Guild Hall. We saw three fabulous exhibitions for the…read moreprincely sum of £2.40 each. The first exhibition, the tv comedy Derry Girls - which has taken the world by storm - and even had Ms Chelsea Clinton in a cameo role. And the line 'Protestants don't like Abba' that made me laugh aloud. Oh I've never met anybody who doesn't like ABBA. Exhibition 2 The history of Derry from Stone Age about 10,000 years ago to date including a documentary film. Exhibition 3 An Armada shipwreck with cannon and weapons recovered from the wreckage. It's a few hours to do the exhibitions seriously and the staff, like all the citizens of this scarred city of survivors are so damn friendly and genuinely warm. Of course I recommend it like I recommend staying in this city for at least 3 nights.

Definitely, a must-visit, the Tower Museum is a great attraction just within the historic Derry…read moreWalls where we enjoyed learning about the city's history and panoramic views from the rooftop. The staff was very friendly as we purchased our tickets and made our way through the exhibits, with the main one we saw being "The Story of Derry". We didn't get around to touring the Armada Shipwreck exhibit that's on the second through fourth floors but did make our way to the top floor where we had an open-air panoramic view of the city around us.

This was a wonderful museum. So well done and so personal to the people of the town and the people…read morethat work in the museum. Many artifacts, stories, and historic records of that day in Derry. This was a pick of our guide Henry from Donegal Tour Guide and we're glad he recommended it. If you're interested in the real history of Derry this is a must see.

Absolute highlight of our trip to Derry. I spent part of my childhood in Donegal, but only visited…read moreDerry for the first time recently, for two days. My friend suggested this museum and the accompanying walking tour of the Bogside which was lead by a local Derry man who had lost an uncle to the Troubles. Between us we had 5 children, ages 8-17. The younger children didn't get as much out of the experience but the teens, ages 15 and 17, as well as the five adults were completely riveted by both the museum displays/artifacts and the content and passionate yet objective delivery of the guide on the walking tour. He welcomed questions. He was very patient and informative. Highly recommend. Very reasonable price. Tip the tour guide. Nice little gift shop too and a small snack shop just outside the museum.

We enjoyed a really fantastic day together here at the folk park, met up with another family of 4,…read moreso we had a big gang of 8 walking together through the park, in pouring rain, and it was a perfect day! We had children ages 6-15 and each one thought it was fascinating, the adults, too. It went on a bit too long for me- I was so surprised how many stops there were on the tour- and I ran out of stream! So come well-rested and prepared with good walking shoes and an umbrella, if needed. Cute gift shop. Very nice café. Loved it! Highly

It's been so long since we were here last that we'd forgotten almost all of it. Maybe it's just a…read moreseries of senior moments but I'll tell you what it's superb and a great way to spend 3 or more hours. There's no down side to this place. This is a superb living park where you walk through 18th & 19th century thatched cottages, a blacksmiths forge, a school house, a Roman Catholic Church, a Meeting House, a bank, general stores, barns, log cabins, you'll board a ship (to go from Ireland to America) meet the captain and you'll meet other delightful costumed characters who demonstrate traditional crafts, tell real stories. They are very likely to share good food with you. We had pumpkin pie, a molasses based shoo fly pie, apple pie, fruit cake and other goodies. Many of the buildings were dismantled from their original places in Ireland & America and re-built here. The influential Mellon family feature (banking, oil, steel and shares in HJ Heinz & General Motors) as does the Campbell family. Both families are originally from the area so further adding to the authenticity of the park. There are 44 separate outdoor places to go visit in addition to the exhibitions inside and notably they have a very good Titanic exhibition. So a dry day is essential or at least a dry half day. There's also a very good cafe with tasty food rather than the rubbish a lot of places serve up these days. In fact if I was close by I'd go here to eat without going into the folk park.

We visited the Ulster Museum after we had done quite a few other attractions and decided to only…read morefocus on one of the displays, namely the section dedicated to the Troubles. Extremely informative and well-presented.

Great museum with a wide variety of things- like a national museum. So many genres, and we got…read moreextra lucky that there was an exhibit of current artists with art for sale. That exhibit was gigantic and impressive. Only downside of the museum was no acoustical/ absorption to buffer the screeching children. It was well worth a visit if you have spare time in Belfast.

Before planning our trip here, I was unaware that the Titanic originated in Belfast. This museum…read moredid an incredible job of detailing all that went into the ship as well as all that went wrong after they were at sea. The place is very large and the tour takes a couple hours. You're taken through the processes that occurred during the massive undertaking it was to construct the ship, to the setup onboard and ultimately the voltage itself. The place flows very nicely, there's a delightful ride and the pictures/audio tell quite the story. It's a very powerful place. The SS Nomadic outside is the last surviving ferry ship in the fleet was great to walk on and around. This is a must see spot when you're up in Belfast!

I was blown away by this museum! Sure it's an extremely popular historic event with a huge movie…read moreto gather even more attention, but Belfast had done it right. I enjoyed every aspect to the gigantic museum, from the surrounding area , before you enter, to each and every floor full of displays, movies and interactive activities. Masses of people will be there, yet I never felt rushed or overwhelmed as I worked my way through. So many thumbs up to this iconic museum. Must see!

Anyone who restored any old machine back to its former glory immediately has my respect. This…read moreorganization is actively restoring and preserving local history and a small section of the railway line up to the old abbey on the outskirts of Downpatrick, on some occasions you can get a ride on the steam engines which is great for kids and adults too. Its living history not from a textbook or stuck in a museum, these are working engines and preserving skills that would otherwise not be needed and be lost. Worth checking when trains are running for a visit.

W5 is officially described as 'an interactive discovery centre' which doesn't sound half as much…read morefun as it really is. It is an educational place, but boy is it fun! The first time we went, my kids were absolutely blown away - there is nothing else in Belfast in this league. There are 4 separate areas - START, GO, SEE and DO and each has loads of fun stuff for kids and the adults with them to do. START is best for younger children - although my 9 year old still secretly loves it. You can't imagine some of the exhibits and best of all, you are allowed to touch and get involved with everything. First thing you'll see is the fully functioning mini branch of Tesco - shelves, fruit, veg, packets and a chilled counter with fake lobsters and mussels and even a till which beeps as you put each item through. Genius. Then there's the real Mini car which you can tinker around with, a mini building site with crane and foam bricks and roof tiles, a huge water play area (they even provide waterproof aprons), and how great is this - a recording studio where you can watch yourself on screen as you play a wooden guitar. I mean the children can watch themselves, obviously I haven't done that. GO is all about space so will appeal to junior astronauts. You can sit on pulley chairs which you have to use your own body strength to lift, join in a massive tug of war, experiment with magnets, and build and race K'Nex cars. SEE - I love this bit. You can create cartoons and add sound effects. I think I missed my vocation in life. Even better, you can make music with lights and your movements. This section is quite 'laboratory' like and will appeal to even too cool for skool pre and early teens. Finally there is DO, where you can get stuck in building robots and learning all about our weather systems. Like anything you make in W5, you have to respect the rules and leave your model behind for someone else to dismantle and use the materials. There is a café but it sells a limited selection of scones and sandwiches. But the good news is that there are picnic areas so you can bring your own food, saving money and ensuring that your kids will have something they like. There's also a shop which sells reasonably priced gadgets and toys. A stroke of genius is that there are lockers on the ground floor so don't have to carry bags and coats etc which I think is fab, especially in winter when you'll have hats, scarves etc too. A ticket for 2 adults and 2 children will cost £22. That might seem off putting at first glance but bear in mind that your ticket is valid for the full day and you can leave for something to eat in one of the nearby restaurants and go back in. You could easily spend 3 -4 hours at W5, especially on your first visit. I cannot recommend W5 highly enough for a family day out , just one word of caution, wet days in the summer holidays can be crazy busy in W5, so go first thing or later on in the day.

Great place haven't been in years and didn't really fancy it as I thought my son would be to young…read morebut brought him anyway and it was amazing he's 2 and loved every second of it lots of stuff to do and was kept very entertained

I first went to the Folk Museum when I was at school and now I love taking my own kids there. If…read moreyou're planning to go, wait for a dry day as you'll spend a lot of the time outside and trudging about in the rain is no fun for anyone. First things first and parking is easy as there is a large car park. Then buy your tickets - a family ticket for both Folk and Transport Museums will set you back £20 which is fantastic value as visiting both with lunch in between will take a full day. You can bring your own snacks and lunch to keep costs down too and there are plenty of places to stop for a picnic. The folk museum is totally fascinating and is based around a full size village with a school, a pub, a bank, church, shop, a cinema, town and rural buildings, all of which have been painstakingly taken down brick by brick and moved from their original site, moved to the museum and rebuilt brick by brick. You can look round inside all the buildings which have been furnished with the appropriate furniture etc and even go upstairs in some. Most days there are museum guides on duty who are dressed in period costume and on school holidays and Bank Holidays, there are activities to join in with like basket weaving, butter making and traditional street games. Kids and adults will really enjoy the Folk Museum as its so interactive - history will suddenly get interesting!

We went to the Folk Museum on Halloween. What a great time. There were kids everywhere. What a…read moregreat pleasure. The park was full of visitors and the staff was up for the day. They were having as much fun as the children and their parents. The only downside, do not have a reason to call over the weekend, because they do not answer the phone. This is the problem having government officials. They can make rules that are not helpful and do not see us as customers that deserve service. They think of themselves first.