As this is written (November 2009), the National Space Centre in Leicester has just won the East Midlands Tourism Large Visitor Attraction of the year award. The Space Centre is an all weather attraction for all the family.

We have been to the Space Centre before and it can easily occupy a day, with exhibits ranging from the massive "Blue Streak" rocket housed in the Rocket Tower and the 1960s Soyuz capsule in the main entrance, to over 150 interactive exhibits in the other halls.

The National Space Centre holds regular special events, and when we went on this occasion there was a "Meccano Madness" event. We didn't really know what to expect as the description on the website was quite sketchy, but James is just getting into metal meccano so we thought it was worth a visit.

Entry to the Space Centre costs £12.72 for adults and £10.77 for children over 5. However, if you choose to use gift aid on your admission ticket, they will convert your day entry to an annual pass free of charge.

When we entered the Space Centre, we were given a time to see a film in the space theatre. As it happened, we missed this time because we became so engrossed in the fantastic meccano exhibits. These ranged from lifelike reproductions of steam engines, rockets etc...

...to fascinating models of engines and many "hands on" exhibits with cranks for the kids (of all ages) to turn.

We had lunch in the Space Centre Cafe - a sandwich, packet of crisps, a drink and a cake for afters cost us £10.40 for James and I, and we sat and ate it right underneath a rocket!

We had a super day at the Space Centre we didn't have time on this occasion to do anything but the meccano but it is well worth a visit at any time and perhaps two days if there is a special event on. When we go back next time we will take some more photos and update this page.

Photos cannot do justice to the models on show at the meccano event, so we took some video - click below to watch.