I have two boys, one 6 and one 3, who are obsessed with poo, so I thought they’d enjoy a little pitstop at the National Poo Museum on the Isle of Wight. And I was really impressed!

It’s really small, actually set in old public toilets, but because of the size you don’t need a buggy or anything which is great for little ones. It’s great value - £4 for adults and £2 for children (under 5s go free) – and there’s lots to see and do; we spent the best part of an hour there.

It was very interactive and the people who ran it were very enthusiastic and knowledgeable(!) about poo. They had a turning handle to turn pages of a book to play with, plus a match the poo to the animal game, where the correct answer lit up. In one of the old cubicles they had an animation playing, which they had designed themselves, and it explained how a parasite moves in a life cycle. How the snail ate the parasite, the bird ate the snail, the parasites laid eggs in the bird, and then the poo came out and the parasite continued its journey. They even had a microscope set up with poo they had collected that morning, so you could see the parasites in action. And the boys really grasped all this, so it was quite an educational experience. There was also some other fun titbits like a machine you could talk into at one end of the museum, which connected to one at the other end where someone could hear you. This amused the boys.

There were some samples of poo as well. One was what an owl had eaten and regurgitated, and another a poo that they used to make perfume. Which sounds disgusting, but you smell the poo – which is yuk! – and then you smell the perfume they made, and it was just like any other perfume.

They have some good facilities too, like a very clean (and big) toilet next to them with steps for children. There was also a very small stall selling gifts. You can either drive there, and there’s a leisure centre opposite with ample parking (and a crossing), or you could walk from Sandown or Lake along the cliff path. There’s also a play park opposite and it’s a short walk to the beach, so a great addition to any day out on the Isle of Wight.

I’d absolutely go again.

The Jagelman Family