Have you ever fancied a career as a fighter pilot? If so, I’ve found the perfect place to visit. There aren’t many places in the world where you can imagine yourself in Top Gun but Boscombe Down Aviation Collection in Wiltshire is one of them. Oh, and the kids will probably enjoy it too!
Old Sarum
As we’d driven some distance to reach the museum I thought it prudent to let the kids run off some energy outside so we headed first to the nearby attraction of Old Sarum.
Old Sarum is the original site of Salisbury, although nowadays it’s a couple of miles north of the city. Its hilltop location was home to an Iron Age fort and subsequently used by Romans, Saxons and Normans.
The site consists of the remains of a castle and cathedral. The castle was established by William the Conqueror when he built a motte in the centre of the hill fort. A recent geophysical survey has discovered it once consisted of halls, towers and apartments; very different to how it looks nowadays.
The site has information boards dotted around to advise what would have once surrounded you. We rather liked the old toilets (pictured above) and the kids enjoyed dropping a few pennies down the well.
Although there’s not much left of the actual castle it’s in a stunning location and has great views, both of Salisbury and the surrounding countryside.
Outside of the English Heritage site (and free to visit) you’ll find the cathedral foundations. This was first completed in 1092 but burnt down just 5 days after it was consecrated. Another cathedral took its place a century later. Both the cathedral site and earth banks around the castle appeared to be a well known dog walking route. Unfortunately not all of the dog owners had poop scooped so watch your step!
Boscombe Down Aviation Collection
Boscombe Down Aviation Collection is only a mile or so from Old Sarum. It’s located in a hangar next to the airfield on an industrial site although if it wasn’t for the two aircraft outside you’d wonder if you were in the right place.
The aircraft in the collection are associated with the Boscombe Down military flight testing centre. They consist of restored and replica planes and cockpits; each one has an information board next to it detailing its history.
There are 18 cockpits from a variety of aircraft, including a Harrier, Tornado and Sea Hawk. The absolute best thing about this museum is that you are encouraged to sit in all of them, flick the switches and generally pretend you’re flying a fighter jet. This applies to the adults as much as the children! Staff are on hand to point out what all the controls are for and are incredibly knowledgeable about the planes.
At the age of 12 I thought my daughter was well past the age of dressing up. How wrong I was. She jumped at the chance of wearing a pilot’s jump suit and helmet throughout the visit. My son wasn’t fussed about dressing up but they both enjoyed ‘flying’ the BAC1-11.
Aside from the cockpits there are 8 full size planes to view, although you are not allowed to enter these. These include a restored Sea Harrier which saw action in the Falklands Conflict.
There are also a couple of helicopters, weapons, aircraft models and engines. The helicopters don’t have rotor blades but my son was initially hesitant of sitting in them after the lady on the entrance desk mentioned that a child had been able to start one previously.
Towards the end of our visit one of the staff offered to take the kids in the trainer, a Link flight simulator. They had great fun, although I’m not sure I’d want to go in a real plane with them as they’d crash it before long!
We all loved the museum. Even if planes aren’t your thing it’s an unusual way to spend a couple of hours and just as enjoyable for us adults as it was for the kids.
More info
- Old Sarum is open daily except over Christmas and New Year. It’s an English Heritage site so is free to members, otherwise it’s £4.40 for adults and £2.70 for children.
- Boscombe Down Aviation Collection is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10am-6pm. They’re closed Mondays except on Bank Holidays. A family ticket costs £23. I’d suggest the collection is best for primary school or older children rather than pre-schoolers as access to the cockpits involves climbing up short ladders.
Wow, you actually get to climb in the cockpits and press buttons! That’s our kind of place. I can’t thing of any age child or adult who’d refuse to do that. Sounds like a great place, another for the list. If you do like plnes. check out the RAF Museum in London. Free admission. A huge museum, so much to see. Lots of social history as well as ‘planes’ history.
Thanks Katharine. I’ll add the RAF museum to our list, could be an Easter holiday visit.
This would be a perfect day out for my family – I would love to visit the ruins and my husband would be nuts about the fighter jets. Oh…and the kids would have a ball too.
The variety is good, it’s rather convenient they’re so close to each other.
I was just reading about Old Sarum this week in the new English Heritage magazine. I didn’t realise there was an aviation museum near by as well. My kids would love that!
I’d never really heard about it before, Trip Advisor is my source of inspiration.
Getting to climb in the cockpit of different aircraft must’ve been an exciting experience for your two, I bet they felt like real pilots for the day. Old Sarum looks like an informative place to visit, I bet the kids had a laugh when they realised they were by the loos! Thanks for linking up with me on Country Kids.
Exciting for me too 🙂 It was refreshing that the adults were encouraged to get in too.
Love those ruins! Amazing! I also love that its not too expensive to enter. I wish we can see this too! #countrykids
Thanks Merlinda. To be honest I probably wouldn’t pay to go back to Old Sarum as there seemed to be just as much to see outside of the paying area. Good to see once though.
looks like a really good day out i love that they could dress up and get in all the planes such a great way to get them interested!
I was really surprised when my daughter wanted to dress up but she loved it.
This looks brilliant, I bet the kids LOVED getting to go in the cockpits!! #countrykids x
Yep, they did!
That looks like a great day out. I love finding places like this where there is so much to explore. Thank you for the recommendation
Thanks Nikki. If you’re within an hours drive it’s definitely worth a visit.
That’s fabulous that you can actually get in and play in the cockpits. Brings it much more to life for the children
Although my son wouldn’t get in to begin with as he was scared he might actually fly the plane 🙂
Hi Christine, the Old Sarum site looks beautifully scenic and as for Boscombe Down Aviation Collection…WOW! Being able to sit at the controls of a fighter plane and fiddle, what a wonderful experience.
Visiting places like this gives me goosebumps thinking of who was there before me!
I know exactly what you mean. I love imagining what things would once have been like.
Wow – this looks like the perfect way to spend a Saturday with the family. It looks like the museum has really captured the imagination of your children. My three would love the chance to sit in a real plane (esp if they could dress up as a pilot). Thanks for linking to #traveltales
Thank you, it was an excellent ‘museum’. I love hands on places like this.
Both sound great – I’d particularly like to go to Old Sarum (thanks for the tip about the poop!) but think Rob would really like the aviation collection. We have the RAF museum quite near us in London and he’s always enjoyed that too.