{"id":137852,"date":"2025-05-28T05:46:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T05:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/137852\/"},"modified":"2025-05-28T05:46:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T05:46:12","slug":"the-free-greater-manchester-museum-with-a-unique-feature-to-visit-this-half-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/137852\/","title":{"rendered":"The free Greater Manchester museum with a unique feature to visit this half term"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spend a day at this museum recently named one of the best in the country\"BoltonBolton Museum(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t seem five minutes since the Easter holidays, so it\u2019s hard to believe that for many schools it’s May half term<\/a> this week. Keeping the kids occupied over the coming days can be tricky, but we\u2019ve got lots of suggestions for things to do.<\/p>\n

The weather is also a challenge, especially as there\u2019s some showers forecast this week, so it\u2019s a good idea to plan some rainy day activities.<\/p>\n

A museum is always a great option and many are completely free to visit – including Bolton<\/a> Museum.<\/p>\n

Located in the town centre, it was recently named one of the best free museums and galleries to visit in the UK, in a list compiled by GoldCo, which ranked galleries and museums based on Tripadvisor review and star ratings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"BoltonBolton Museum(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

The museum has a wealth of displays, spanning the ancient Egyptians to zoology, sure to spark children\u2019s imagination.<\/p>\n

Its collections are impressive with around 12,000 objects from Egypt, more than 3,500 items of fine art, and around 60,000 botanical specimens and much, much more.<\/p>\n

The museum also focuses on local history, looking at the area\u2019s industrial heritage with artefacts on display.<\/p>\n

Bolton Museum also has a unique feature: it\u2019s home to the region\u2019s only public aquarium and home to more than 70 varieties of fish from across the world.<\/p>\n

\"BoltonBolton Aquarium(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Visitors can marvel at the Ornate Bichir, a snake-like fish from the swamps of central Africa; get up close to piranhas from the Amazon; and catch a glimpse of one of the Pygmy Glass Danio, one of the smallest fish in the world.<\/p>\n

Costa Rica, Borneo, Malaysia and Madagascar are just some of the countries the aquarium\u2019s fish originate from.<\/p>\n

Every tank is designed to replicate the natural habitat of the fish, for example the Peruvian fish are kept in tanks with a similar environment to a small stream in Peru, with shallow waters, plants and fallen leaves.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Indian display features bright lighting, rocks and wood to provide shelter.<\/p>\n

In 2021 the aquarium celebrated its 80th anniversary, having first opened to the public in January 1941. Initially it displayed British freshwater fish, but today it has an extensive exotic collection.<\/p>\n

Bolton Museum and Aquarium is completely free to visit. It\u2019s open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday – Saturday from 9am to 5pm, Wednesdays 9.30am to 5pm and Sundays from 10am to 4pm.<\/p>\n

For more of the latest What’s On news, click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spend a day at this museum recently named one of the best in the countryBolton Museum(Image: Sean Hansford…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[279,748,393,4884,2465,485,5006,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-137852","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-bolton","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-manchester-family","14":"tag-tourism","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114583882250059683","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}