Southampton is probably most famous for its links to the doomed liner Titanic, which set off on its fateful journey across the Atlantic from the city in 1912.
More than 1,500 people died in the disaster – and you can learn so much more about the voyage on a trip to SeaCity Museum, located right in the city centre.
The museum features a couple of exhibitions on its first floor – one about the Titanic and the other about the history of Southampton in its role as a gateway to the rest of the world.
The former focuses upon certain crew members and looking at their roles on the ship and what happened to them.
The vast majority of the crew were from the city and many did not survive the sinking.
There are also artefacts giving insight into what life was like aboard, with a mock cabin showing where second class passengers would have slept.
Our four-year-old loved guiding the Titanic through a simulation where visitors can use a ship’s steering wheel.
There is also the chance to ‘shovel’ coal into the ship’s engine, which our one-year-old was fascinated by.
A courtroom scene also allows visitors to take a seat and learn about the aftermath of the tragedy.
This can be visited individually for a charge or is included as part of a SeaCity admission ticket.
Inside it is a special exhibition about the author Jane Austen, running until October, although we ran out of time to take a look at this.
The museum tickets may seem expensive at £14 for adults and £9.50 for children over 5, but they offer a year’s unlimited access to a fascinating place to visit and a must for those interested in the Titanic.
Keeping the nautical theme, we stopped off for lunch at The White Star Tavern, around a 20 minute walk through the city towards Ocean Village and the docks themselves.
It is situated in a street full of bars and restaurants, giving a lively atmosphere with people drinking and chatting in the sun on the day we visited.
The staff were very friendly and engaged with our children throughout.
There was another large group eating at the same time and families are clearly made to feel welcome.
For the main courses, I went for the beef burger with triple-cooked chips, served with kohlrabi coleslaw.
It is also meant to come with London Pride braised onions but I gave them a pass as I am very much not an onion lover.
The burger was a good size and tasted delicious. The meat wasn’t lost in the other flavours and the bacon was an excellent addition.
The triple-cooked chips were sensational. As a chip lover, they were the perfect balance of chunky and crispy but soft and not stodgy inside. Delicious.
The base of roasted vegetables featured a tasty variety, while the ball of burrata cheese was smooth and creamy. The chicken was cooked wonderfully and complemented the burrata well. With a few decorative elements on the plate too – not listed on the menu -there were plenty of flavours and textures to delight the tastebuds.
Our son had the battered haddock and chips with peas and tartare sauce off the children’s menu, while our daughter had margherita pizza.
They both seemed to enjoy them and the dishes were a decent size, although the pizza may be a little small for an older child.
I had banoffee pie tart for pudding, which was very well made. The tart broke beautifully when it was cut through and the vanilla cream was delicious. It wasn’t too filling either and was served with a tasty salted caramel sauce.
It was brought to the table in a large dish that dwarfed the accompanying jug of custard.
The dessert was full of flavour – the rhubarb had a strong tang to it and you could definitely taste the hint of ginger in the crumble itself.
Despite her best efforts, it couldn’t quite be finished off – perhaps a good option to share with a dining partner if you’re both feeling fairly full.
Our children had chocolate brownie and sticky toffee pudding – both with ice cream – for dessert, and our four-year-old demolished the latter. The chocolate brownie was perhaps a bit too rich for our youngest’s tastebuds as she struggled to finish it.
It is definitely somewhere we would recommend and, although the main menu is relatively expensive, there is a fixed price menu between Monday and Friday offering two courses for £18.50.
After a good night’s sleep, we were ready to try something else we had never been to before as a family – cricket.
We were off to The Hundred, English cricket’s unique competition featuring top international players trying to hit as many runs as they can in 100 balls.
Among the stars taking the field during our visit were England’s Ben Duckett, Jofra Archer and Danni Wyatt-Hodge, as well as overseas internationals such as Ellyse Perry and Trent Boult.
The Utilita Bowl, just a few miles outside the city centre, is home to the Southern Brave franchise which plays in the competition.
We used one of these buses from the former station and there was very little wait, with the journey no more than 10 to 15 minutes.
Once at the ground, there is plenty on offer for children.
Our son enjoyed the activities, aimed at five to 11-year-olds, including batting and catching nets.
It was a long day, with a double-header of matches featuring the men’s and women’s sides.
The women’s match started at 11am and the men’s match ended at 5pm.
Our children really got into the spirit of things, waving a card with a 4 and 6 on it when a boundary was struck.
This contributed to a friendly atmosphere, meaning it is a great option for taking children to their first taste of cricket – exactly what we did.
The roar of the crowd was a little too much for our one-year-old early on but once she was used to it, she had a smile on her face and was clapping along with those around us as well as jigging to the music.
Our son did find it too long a day to keep him entertained the whole time, something to bear in mind if you are taking younger children.
But it was a really fun day – with even the opportunity to meet the players and get some autographs and selfies at the end.
It’s also a cheap day out, with all tickets for 3 to 15-year-olds just £5.
International cricket can be extremely expensive, so the Hundred is a great way to introduce your children to the sport.
All in all, Southampton has lots of great attractions that would make a wonderful weekend break for all the family and we would thoroughly recommend it.
For more things to do in the city, go to visitsouthampton.co.uk.
For more on the places mentioned in our review, visit whitestartavern.co.uk, seacitymuseum.co.uk or thehundred.com.
