I have been visiting the armories for many years with my children, since it first opened. We have always loved it . The presentations, performances and jousting closely followed by the kids activity room and cross bow range were always there favorites. Today we went as an adult family of 6 adults and 2 teens. For nostalgia sake lots of displays and cabinets were still the same. Some areas such as self defense desperately need an overhaul. It was disappointing to discover the cross bow range is now closed, but they do have plans to reopen this next month. This has always had a charge. Another disappointment even though my kids are too big the childrens activities room with dressing up and craft activities is no longer there , it looks like a classroom now, probably for school visits. Jousting is a warmer month only activity and only in school holidays I believe. We watched a presentation by two people which was informative but a little dull, could do with a little audience participation maybe. For people visiting for the first time they would have a great free day out For those who have visited before you will realize it's a little dated and needs refreshing . There was a new exhibition which we all enjoyed. We didn't eat or drink but there is a cafe on site. The shop is well stocked and reasonably priced pencils and pens from £2/£3. There are good public transport links. There is a multi story car park which has a charge. It's very accessible with lifts to all floors.

Wow what a place! It's huge & it's free to enter until June 2024! There's so much to see. We were there for about 3.5 hours and didn't read everything or get to see it all! Highly educational and interesting. I have loads more photos, too many to upload. Make sure you leave plenty of time to see everything

Wow, what a place! It's massive, and entry is free until June 2024. There's a lot to see. We spent around 2 hours there and didn't get to read or see everything! Very instructive and engaging. I have a lot more images, too numerous to upload. Make sure you leave enough time to see everything.

Free to enter and 4 floors of exhibits to review and look at. There is a lot to look at, but when you have seen one Japanese Canon you have seen most Japanese Canon's, it is the armour museum after all. That said the number of varieties is staggering, the way man has taken a simple principle, whether a sharp pointy thing or to project a projectile very fast at someone else, and given them each, their own unique identity. You can spend as long as you like or just wonder through the halls and let it all wash over you. You could visit multiple times and find something new on each occasion.

A wonderful day out, definitely worth the visit. You can easily spend all day looking at the artifacts. We were lucky to go on the superhero event so there were plenty of shows to watch too.