A FAMILY DAY OUT AT THE DEEP | REVIEW

We've never visited an aquarium with the boys, the closest they've got to seeing fish were either in the sea on holiday, or behind the glass in Pets at Home as expected, I can never usually drag them out of the latter without a fuss because they enjoy it so much. So when The Deep got in touch and asked if we wanted to pop by, I had to jump at the chance, it's home to over 3500 fish, has featured on a postal stamp and sits slap bang on the edge of the Humber Estuary - we were going. We almost made it there last year, but looking back I'm glad we held off till both boys were a bit older as they got so much more from it that I could have imagined.


Noah was really geared up for going, his recent topic at school has featured heavily on Penguins, so given that The Deep is home to 13 of it's very own, it was perfect timing. The Penguins sit in the Kingdom Of Ice section, midway through your deep experience. We could have spent hours sat there watching them, they were so active and it was lovely to see such a varied enclosure for them. Noah is a complete visual learner so within moments he was talking about how they can walk and swim, their long noses and that they're his 'favourite thing ever'.

The Deep is split into ten different sections, it worked well for us because it meant the boys with them being quite young, didn't get bored of seeing the same thing over and over. All the areas had a mix of things to see and do, there was games to play with buttons to press or wheels to spin, soft play, tunnels of fish to walk beneath or tanks to look at. Even though we went on quite a busy day, we weren't stuck around waiting to view anything which was great because at age 1 and 4 their patience isn't their virtue. Noah really enjoyed looking at the awakening seas area, which showed off everything from a fossil wall to gigantic Megaldon teeth!

The Lagoon of Light was definitely my favourite area, the lagoon featured all kinds of fish from Tang Fish (think Dory), to Zebra Sharks. Patrick couldn't believe it when he saw all of the fish, it was his first glimpse at them close up whilst he's able to actually understand what they are, though he couldn't grasp why they wouldn't stop and wave when he shouted 'ELLO FISHY' over and over again. He definitely gave off Darla vibes, although I was pleasantly surprised he didn't bang on the glass as I know how tempting it was for him. The fish were lapping up the attention, real divas' if you will because they spent most of the time circling the perimeter of glass so everyone could see them and they could see everyone else. Noah was a little wary when the big ones came close, but that soon stopped as he noticed they were being fed, and just how incredibly gentle they were taking the food from the feeders hands - before long he was up at the glass with his courageous brother and I was thankful the Penguins followed otherwise it would have been hard to top that.

As we moved through the areas, the boys became more and more confident. Noah was able to point out so many fish he remembered from other tanks we'd passed and both me and John spent our time reading the helpful boards so we could name all the fish Noah pointed out and answer the inevitable 'What's that one Mummy'. At the very end, not too long before the exit, you can pass through the tunnel under the tanks, we spent ages in here as it gave us such good views. Before you leave the Deep you can choose to take the 'scenic stairs' or the 'scenic lift', we opted for the latter and I'm so glad. I won't spoil it too much, but it does transport you up through the tank and gives you a view that you can't really get anywhere else.

We managed to lose a whole two hours inside, but could have easily spent double. There were a lot of primary school trips there and I can see why, it's so educational and even I learnt way more than I thought I would from a simple day out. You really could make a day of it, as The Deep hosts it's own restaurant too, something we'll be trying out on our next visit. It was well worth the hour trip, both the boys napped on the way home which tells me it was a day well spent.

*We were invited along to The Deep in exchange for our honest opinions.