Black Country Living Museum near Birmingham

Our first visit here was during the summer holidays and using tesco vouchers. They have an offer currently, where if you purchase full price entry tickets then you can use them for entry for the next 12months, but on a first visit there is no guarantee we will stay more than five minutes, let alone be able to return anywhere.

Despite the time of year we found plenty of spaces in their car park and were able to park close to the entrance, with space to get the chair out of the car. There is a charge for parking, but this is standard at many attractions in the area unfortunately.

Our first impression upon entering was not great. Staff were too busy chatting to eachother to welcome guests and when I interrupted their conversation about their weekend plans to ask where the disabled toilets were I received abrupt directions and was told we had to join the queue. Instantly we were split into two. Husband joined the queue whilst we all went on the toilet run. I then had to undo their safety barriers to rejoin the queue as there was no way back to my husband without doing this. Thankfully the queue wasn't too long and we were reasonably prepared, but I do feel this is an area they need to improve upon.

My eldest spotted a vintage bus almost as soon as we were through the entrance gates (incidentally, for each person who is disabled and has proof, there is one carer admission for free), and bolted down the path, closely followed by my other two. Having never been here before I was unsure of the safety in the area, knew they would be lost if out of sight and so swiftly followed suit, abandoning my husband - again- with the chair that wouldn't fit in the bus. (on their website it states that wheelchair friendly transport is available if you telephone the duty manager, but I wonder if that has ever been tested- especially with a chair that people always annoyingly assume is a pushchair...I digress).

Catching this bus was actually a god send as it gave us a tour of the area and let us find our bearings- and the park and fun fair.

My plans for the day had been simple. Arrive, try to get them all in there, try to make it to the fun fair, then the park for a picnic and anything else was a bonus.
It turned out they all came up with this itinerary themselves once they spotted the helter skelter anyway, and we also managed a whole lot more.

The fun fair had some terrible reviews that had made me wary before our trip, but I found it to be perfect for us. The tokens aren't too expensive and there is a good variety of rides, without there being too many. There is no tacky fairground music, no flashing lights like at the modern fairgrounds, and they even have a mirror house. Our children LOVE the mirrors. We were in there for far longer than we should have been but who cares?

Our picnic in the park was relaxed, helped by the free deck chairs and plenty of shade available. As expected there were ridiculous queues for the chip shop, where we could have eaten chips, but a couple sat on a bench near us had queued for over half and hour for their chips, and decided they tasted just like normal chips. That made me feel a bit better for not queuing up.

The park itself is terrible for disabled visitors. There are steps everywhere, so the only piece of equipment that is accessible is a small roundabout that has bars you can move to put a small wheelchair on. As ours don't have physical disabilities we were ok, but it was so busy there we couldn't stay very long.

We let our children lead the day as this is what works best for us, and they chose to cross the bridge onto the street side, closer to the canal. We asked about ingredients in the sweet shop, but the girl didn't know. She told us 'I think these should be safe', which frankly isn't good enough. I know they are trying to be authentic, and I obviously wouldn't buy anything that I couldn't be sure of anyway, but does the law not apply here? That said, the sugar mice were too cute to resist, and I know they are ok for my youngest and would keep her going.

We eventually found the photo studio, but there are slots you have to write your name next to and these were all booked up by the time we arrived there. This was a shame as I did wonder how many of those were children messing around and would actually be free later on, especially with the smiley faces drawn there.

This led us to the boat trip area on the map our son had spotted. Across another bridge is a canal visitors centre, totally separate to the museum but with no barriers or people checking tickets. In theory we could have parked there and entered the museum for free, as people from our boat trip afterwards. This was a tad annoying given the admission prices for the museum, but maybe they will realise this one day and tighten up on it. The boat trip itself had no disabled pricing for children, and the lady told me where to leave our 'buggy'. I saw no point in correcting her, but it is annoying when people don't realise. I asked specifically how dark the tour would be, how long and how long we would be in the tunnels for. She answered my questions and my daughter was satisfied that she would be ok to go on the trip.

However, in one of the many dark caverns with noisy videos and lights playing, our youngest had a wobble and demanded to leave right now.

Obviously we couldn't do that, so I had to spend the time holding her so she didn't try to leave the boat, and try my best to keep her safe, whilst reassuring my eldest daughter that everything was ok and safe and had been there for a long time. I wish people were honest and had told us about these things. There is no way I would have taken my youngest on the trip if I had known there would be loud music and videos shown with the lights out in tunnels and caverns for that amount of time. My eldest was out out too- he really desparately wanted to try legging, but people had already been picked by the staff so he didn't get a look in. It would have been useful to have been told this, or asked if anyone wanted to try when we boarded the boat. This experience cost us more than the entrance to the museum had. But atleast we did it. Never again, but we did it.

Back in the museum again and we managed several more vehicle trips around the streets, played with some old fashioned toys and tried skipping in the street. My son had a look in the motorcycle shop, then got awkward and left when the man started asking him unwelcome questions about school and bikes. The lady in the pawnbroker was excellent. She seemed to realise my daughter was struggling to speak to her and became very visual instead in her explanations of how the shop would work. My daughter learned a lot from her.

The toilets around the museum were a bit hit and miss. Some were very noisy and others were ok. We had funny looks from people when we used the disabled, but we are used to that and ignore them.

We didn't make it to the rock and fossil shop, or the other buildings in between the park and the entrance, but it is looking positive for a return visit sometime soon, knowing what we now know we can plan a day there much better.