Manchester Museum

From archeology and anthropology to earth sciences and entomology (that’s insects to you and me), the range of exhibits in the museum is mind-boggling.

There’s Stan, a reproduction of a massive T-rex fossil. There are elaborate Egyptian sarcophagi and creepy looking mummies. There’s a giant Japanese spider crab. In short, there’s a whole lot to see and do whether you're eight or 80. Children will love the vivarium, where they can get up close to all manner of frogs, reptiles and crawly things. Living Worlds leaves behind the past to look at the future and how current choices affect it.

The museum enjoyed a huge spike in visitor numbers in 2013 when a security camera revealed that a small Egyptian statue was turning in a perfect circle so slowly that it was imperceptible unless viewed as a time-lapse. The video went viral on YouTube, and despite explanations to do with vibrations caused by internal visitors and external traffic, the statue itself, called Neb-Senu and dating back to 1800BC, still attracts fans of the mysterious.