The MAD Museum

What to see at the MAD Museum

The MAD Museum focuses on displays of mechanical art, which is essentially elaborate mechanical contraptions such as ball-runs and moving sculptures.

It is a child-friendly attraction with interactive exhibits and lots of buttons to push, which makes it a fun alternative to Stratford’s Shakespeare-related attractions.

Visiting the MAD Museum

The museum is located on the pedestrianised Henley Street in the centre of Stratford-upon-Avon just a one-minute walk from Shakespeare’s Birthplace. From here most points of interest in the town centre are no more than a five-minute walk, while it is a 10-minute walk to the railway station, a 13-minute walk to Holy Trinity Church and a 25-minute walk to Anne Hathaway’s Cottage.

The admission fee is a bit steep for a small museum but families with small children find that it is worth the money to keep their kids entertained. Admission is free of charge with the Shakespeare’s England Explorer Pass.

Despite being a child-friendly museum, the MAD Museum cannot accommodate pushchairs or prams as it can get crowded and there simply isn’t enough space to easily manoeuvre a pram around the museum. While it is a great place to visit if you have small children, they need to be old enough to walk around the museum.

The museum has a unique gift shop that sells kits so you can assemble your own contraptions at home.

The MAD Museum can keep you entertained for 2–3 hours if you’re visiting with kids, which makes it relatively good value. However, adults visiting on their own won’t spend nearly as long here.