A visit to the South Wales Aviation Museum

*Please Be Aware that Due to the Coronavirus that museums may not be open or advised to visit at the time. Please keep this museum in mind for when things change. Please note I have no affiliation with this museum 

We love exploring what is on our doorstep especially if it's not only fun but educational too so when I stumbled across the South Wales Aviation Museum in Rhoose, which opened last year, I knew we have to stop by and see first hand what it's all about.

Firstly the South Wales Aviation Museum is a self-funded, volunteer-run, non-for-profit charity of which 100% of its admission donations go to the upkeep and running of the museum. Under 17's are free and adults is a £5 donation and I can honestly say it's worth every penny.

Unlike other Aviation museum's we have been too, they actively encourage visitors to touch and interact with the aircraft and exhibits which makes this a fantastic place for all ages and a great way to immerse yourself fully into the experience, it's not every day you can sit on the cockpit of a fighter jet.

The museum is made up off a large hanger which contains a variety of planes and jets, as well as three smaller exhibition rooms and the Hanger Round Cafe which offers up a variety of light bites, coffee and cake and has an excellent children's play area.

On arrival, this is plenty of free parking and from the moment you step into the museum the friendly volunteers are on hand to help and answer any questions you have as well as offer great insight into each plane, jet and helicopter.

There are a variety of planes, cockpits, engines, military and aviation displays to see including a passenger jet and Boeing style cockpit children (and adults) can have a go sitting in, as well as a military helicopter and fighter jet. The volunteers also showed the boys how to get strapped into an emergency eject seat and the small exhibition rooms offered a lot of additional insight especially into what life was like in war times and the role of the air force today. 

Despite the museum being fairly small (with plans to extended further), we spent over 2hrs here of which the children were fully engaged the whole time. We also made sure to pop into the cafe for a coffee and some delicious cake.

This museum opened in April last year but is still relatively unknown, besides a Facebook page and website there has been limited marketing and promotion done so it certainly is a hidden gem. Only open on weekends, it was quiet when we visited despite it being a rainy day and we took full advantage of that, which mean no waiting to get into cockpits or explore the planes, I am sure this will change as more people discover this museum.

If you're looking for something different to do on a weekend, that is budget-friendly, helps a charity and offers up an exciting and educational day out then the South Wales Aviation Museum is certainly well worth checking out and we all had a blast and highly recommend it.

To keep up to date with what is happening at the museum it's worth checking out their Facebook page which is kept updated reguarly - SWAM Facebook