Western Approaches Museum

Western Approaches is a labyrinth of restored wartime rooms hidden in the basement of Derby House, the headquarters from which the Battle of the Atlantic was coordinated during the Second World War. Visitors walk through offices, the famous map room and the operations room, which the museum says has been kept much as it was when the doors closed in 1945. Original documents, tools and a wartime telephone with a direct line to London are on display, and a 3D simulator shows how convoy routes were tracked. The self-guided visit takes around an hour and a half, and the building is spread over two floors connected by staircases, so it suits older children and teenagers with an interest in history better than very young ones. The museum runs school sessions and curriculum-linked workshops, making it a useful outing for classes as well as families.