Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens

Only popped in as we were short of time and had a quick look around spending most of our time in the house.

A definite longer visit next time we visit Sunderland.

I used to live in SE Asia for a few years and love the smells of the 'jungle' section. The plants are very well established now and the whole complex is interesting. The kids love going there with their gran and we always have a cake in the cafe. Great fun - for free.

Its a good day out in there and if the weather is fine Mowbray park is interesting also.

This is one of only a few free admission museums in the country. There is alot of very interesting stuff ranging from the history of Sunderland to arts and crafts and animals. The Winter Gardens are very good, there is fish in a stream where you can see them swimming about. You can look around all the plants and you can also go on the gangway upstairs using either the stairs or a glass lift. Very interesting and passes time, children seems to love it as do adults. Great if you are low on money and need somewhere to go.

The glass centre is a good way to pass a few hours. It’s suprisingly large inside and the museum has some rather interesting things, many of them are interactive which probably appeals to children too. It’s best feature in my opinion is the indoor garden, it’s warm all year round, has than nice jungle-like smell and you can go straight from there out onto the cafe.

Take a look.

This is the place we take the girls on a Sunday afternoon. They get quite excited when we tell them we are going to the winter gardens.
We usually get there spot on 2pm (opening time for a Sunday) so that the girls get the run of the place before it gets busy. They love looking at the museum pieces, and the Lion is their favourite. The press all of the buttons and love copying the lion noise. Being 4 and 1, I didn’t think they would be into a museum, but the think it’s great. They like to see all of the different thing on show. The cars, clothing and the mining are all parts that the really enjoy.
After the museum part, we go into the winter gardens. The girls love to look at the giant goldfish and often ask us what the flowers are called. The gardens are on two floors, with access via stairs or a lift.
There is a lovely little gift shop where the girls always beg for presents from.
It has always been a nice trip out for the family and the little coffee shop is wonderful - serving lovely homemade cakes and biscuits. During the week they serve 'proper’ food too.