I was brought up on weekends watching the Grand Prix. My Mum even knows Frank Williams (very cool). We like museums, we particularly like interactive museums and we’ve been to motor museums before and really enjoyed it. So when we were asked if we wanted to review Silverstone Interactive Museum in Northamptonshire we were really keen to check it out. Quick check out of their website, and I was even more excited because it looked great!
We were gifted admission in order to write this review of Silverstone Interactive Museum, but they had no input into the contents and did not see it prior to publication.
Getting into the museum
As you first walk through the door Lewis Hamilton’s race car in dangling right over your head – which is VERY cool. It’s like the Grand Prix equivalent of the diving blue whale at the Natural History Museum in London. They also have a racing bike that is over on it’s side, just like it would be when cornering during a race. Honestly, I couldn’t even get to the ticket desk before the kids had disappeared onto that and were taking photos of each other. Adults were just as bad BTW – and watching some of them trying to get back up again was hilarious (No, I didn’t try, I’m not that silly)
And then I got confused. I couldn’t actually see where the museum was! I could see a shop, a cafe and a staircase. That’s it. We went upstairs, mainly out of curiosity, and were greeted by a lovely lady who explained all. There’s a video that everyone watches before they actually go into Silverstone Interactive Museum itself. It’s fairly short, so we didn’t have to wait long until it was our turn. This is also the place to pick up your free kids trail if you want to. There’s a fairly decent prize at the end (well, decent for a freebie) so I’d say go for it.
The Upper Level
As soon as you go in you’re greeted with an amazing view of…. the lower level! Which is cool and shows you what’s to come.
The upper level mainly focuses on the history of Silverstone and really does live up to the whole “interactive museum” thing. But it’s interactive in lots of funky and different ways. Here’s a few examples; the site used to be home to a priory and so they’ve got a little church that’s a tunnel for the kids to crawl through. Plus there’s a pond with interactive lights where you have to jump on the lily pads to find out facts about the priory.
Although you’d be forgiven for thinking this place be all about the cars and bikes that have driven here, actually it’s also very much about the place itself. At Silverstone Interactive Museum you can also read all about how it used to be on Stowe land (read my review of there by clicking here) and that it was once an airbase.
RAF Silverstone
If you’re an adult you might be quite interested in the information that Silverstone Interactive Museum have thoughtfully put on display for your perusal and learning. If you’re with my three kids then you’ll quickly skip past all of these because there are loads of things to “do” rather than “read” in this bit. The main highlights for my crew were the flight simulator where you actually fly an aeroplane (everyone needs to work on their landing apparently)
And the best shoot ’em up ever! Obviously I don’t compete against my children. But I obliterated their score #justsaying
Finally they’re off
The last section upstairs is all about the farm, the village and the first British Grand Prix. Again, there’s things that you’d never have known unless you came here. They have hedgehog highways in the fences and bat boxes have been installed. There’s careful planting to encourage insects. Is that such a good idea though? We all know what happens to bugs on a windscreen at normal speeds, let alone F1 speeds. Yuk. And RIGHT IN YOUR FACE???!!!?
They even have a pub up here;
Which is appropriate because the phrase “couldn’t organise a p**s up in a brewery” did spring to mind when I read about the 500cc race immediately before the first Silverstone Grand Prix. When the starting flag was waved only TWO of the drivers saw it and start driving. Several didn’t see it, several others weren’t even in their cars and some drivers didn’t even start the race at all! Seems to have got back on track for the main event thankfully. Time for another quick photo op;
The tech lab
I was a bit worried about the tech lab. Although we enjoyed The British Motor Museum and I’ve watched a lot of racing, my Dad is the petrol-head, not me. And the kids know nothing about the internal mechanics of a car (I really should start teaching them some of the general maintenance stuff but that’s besides the point). Would they be interested in this bit? It was mixed, and I’m partially blaming that to hangries.
A lot of it went over Smallest Child’s head. She was basically just spinning and hitting stuff without any idea what she was doing. Biggest Child was quite interested in some of the science (in fact he took himself back here after lunch). Middle Child just wanted feeding.
As I was starting to expect from Silverstone Interactive Museum, there’s lots more things to have a go at around here. There’s a quiz on how to handle certain emergency situations (tip – don’t let a 5 year old hit the buttons otherwise you basically kill everyone off!). There’s a pit-stop challenge which is very popular and you can be a flag-waving marshall.
The cars and bikes
This is Silverstone Interactive Museum after-all and a review wouldn’t be complete without talking about the cars, bikes and their drivers / riders. All the vehicles here have a special link to Silverstone. There’s Barry Sheen’s bike. Lewis Hamilton features heavily, but there’s older stuff as well. No, there’s nowhere near the range you have at the British Motor Museum but that’s because this museum is about the site, not just the vehicles. I think I’ve said that already, but it is an important point.
Trackside
The date of your visit will dictate what you can do track-side. During really big events like the British Grand Prix and Moto GP there’s no track-side access (wouldn’t that be a great way to get cheap tickets!!). During some events there’s racing that you can watch, but it means access to the Heritage Track Trail is restricted. On the day we visited there was racing taking place and it was great! We spent an hour watching beautiful old Bentleys racing each other (some considerably faster than others). You get a great view and there’s not that many people there.
Even if it isn’t a race day it’s worth doing the heritage track trail*. You can explore the track and learn more about some of the biggest events that happened on those spots. If you don’t get chance to actually do the trail then you can still download the app from the website, it’s just not as much fun when you’re not actually standing there.
How family friendly is Silverstone Interactive Museum?
Very! Possibly more family friendly than adult-only if I’m honest. Yes, you absolutely can visit as an adult, and you’d enjoy it, but you’d probably have more fun with the kids. There’s so much for them to see and do, it’s great. And literally no-one minds that the kids are running around getting stuck in. Actually there’s loads of bits I haven’t had time to cover in the review – there really in that much packed into a relatively small space.
And when you’ve finished you’re treated to a 360 cinema trip around the track. I’ll be honest this did make me feel a little queasy and at times the graphics were super cheesy. It was a nice way to end the day though.
Our Silverstone Interactive Museum Review
This place is a good half (maybe even 3/4) family day out and is ridiculously hands on (the clue is in the name people). You don’t have to be mega Grand Prix fans to enjoy it. In fact, and to my shame, my kids have never watched a Grand Prix even though Dad and I have talked about it and the TT a lot. None of that mattered – they really enjoyed it.
You can upgrade your ticket to a free annual pass when you gift aid admission. Because of the interactivity (and the possibility of watching some races) this is the kind of place where you really could use that annual pass again and again.
Admission cost
Online prices – Adults £22.50, Children (5-15) £13.50, under 5’s free. Tickets are valid for 12 months. You can also purchase your 30 minute simulator experience tickets online as well.
All prices are correct at the time this review of Silverstone Interactive Museum was published. Please visit their website for the latest prices.
Parking / How to get there
Parking – On-site, free
Address – Silverstone Interactive Museum, Silverstone, Northamptonshire NN12 8TN
Toilets
On-site, including baby change
Food
Cafe on-site. Outdoors picnic area available.
What else is there to do nearby?
Stowe Landscape gardens is nearby. You’re also not far from Milton Keynes and places such as Milton Keynes Museum, Bletchley Park and Willen Lake.
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Hi, I’m Vicky. My husband and I live in Aylesbury with our three children; a 14 year old son, an 12 year old son and a 6 year old daughter. I (mostly) love spending time together as a family. We visit all kinds of places and we’re quite happy to drive a fair distance for a decent day out. A few years ago I decided to set up Free Time with the Kids as a way to share our experiences of these family days out.
You’ll find the essential information you need to know before your visit that can be surprisingly hard to find out. Where do I park? How much will it cost me to get in? Are there any discounts available? Are there loos? Can I take a picnic or get food? My aim is to be your go-to guide for all your free and cheap family days out across Bucks, Beds, Oxon, Herts & slightly beyond. I really hope you find the reviews helpful. If there’s anywhere that you’d recommend please get in touch contact@freetimewiththekids.com or get in touch via Facebook
