The Historic Dockyard Chatham

While our local area might not be a centre of touristic excellence, it does have some positives for visitors (and local like us who like interesting things to see and do). It is close to London. There are quite a few nice destinations within car/bus/train travel distance. And there are a few local attractions that while not spectacular, fill in a morning just nicely.

The Historic Dockyard Chatham is one of those places. We had visited before as a family, and since the couchsurfers staying with us this weekend included a small boy of around-about the Monkey Frog’s age and interests, it was time for another visit.

The Dockyards are more of a complex of attractions than one museum or ‘thing to see’. Our favourites (or more precisely, the Monkey Frog’s favourites) are

• The Lifeboat Museum which is a huge shed full of – you guessed it – lifeboats. A lot more interesting than it sounds, this is a  collection of RNLI lifeboats from across the ages, with mannequins dressed in historically correct outfits. There is a long boardwalk type ramp that leads you around, and many information boards to let you know what you are looking at. And of course there is one boat open for children to climb all over and pretend they are rescuing people, which is always a huge hit. When we were there yesterday there were lots of volunteers at work keeping everything ship-shape, including some lovely older gentlemen who gave the boys some now much treasured lifeguard pins.
• There are three historic vessels that you can go aboard – HMS Gannet (1878), HMS Cavalier (1944) and the Submarine HM Ocelot (1962). We have not been on the submarine yet (the Monkey Frog is not always so good with confined spaces) but the young boys definitely enjoyed the other two vessels, and had a great time exploring, and were quite amazed at the small sleeping places and ‘interesting kitchen’ on the HMS Cavalier. This were once working ships, so there is a lot of climbing up and down steep stairs, so be careful and if you have to carry small people or have frail people travelling with you, best give the ships a miss.
• The Ropery is only accessible if you book in for a tour, which is included in your entry price. Again, making rope might not sound particularly interesting, but the Ropery have done their best to make it so, and have done a good job. Part of the tour includes going upstairs and using old-style machinery to make rope. The Monkey Frog happily volunteered to be one of the helpers, and is now the proud owner of some rope ‘I made. Okay, some other people helped too, but it is still my rope’. The other little boy in our group didn’t miss out, as on the way out there is a box full of rope off-cuts of all sorts, and you are welcome to take what you like. It is amazing what kids can decide is valuable!

A model of the HMS Victory, Historic Dockyards Chatham

There are many other attractions, including a well set-out museum, outdoors playground, and a brass-rubbings trail.  With the majority of buildings on site constructed between 1704 and 1855, and docks responsible for building vessels such as HMS Victory, there is much of historic interest throughout the site.  Summer this year will see the opening of a new gallery, The No. 1 Smithery, which looks interesting. One thing worth remembering is that it is an 80 acre site and even if you do use the little travel-thingie (kind of a buggy with a covered trailer that I have only ever seen parked, not moving around the site) to get around, you will be exposed to the elements. So make sure to dress accordingly – despite the intermittent sunshine, it was very cold yesterday, and some of the shine was taken off the trip with the amount of shivering that was going on due to questionable clothing choices!

So is it value for money? Well, we are lucky enough to get free passes whenever we we need them, and have never bought food or snacks there, preferring to bring our own from home. And I am not sure it is worth travelling all the way to Chatham just to visit the Dockyards and nothing else (though I will be posting in future about a few other family friendly attractions in the Medway area). But the tickets are valid for twelve months,and currently adults cost  £15.00, children aged 5 – 15 are  £10.50 , and the family pass  (which is 2 adults and 2 children or 1 adult and 3 children) is £42.50, with a charge of £7.50 for every additional child. And they include everything on site. So if you are in the Medway area, or particularly keen on maritime history, the Historic Dockyard Chatham may be just the day out for your family.