The Royal Marines Experience opens at the Dockyard

Portsmouth has a new reason to head down to the water this autumn. The Royal Marines Experience, the new home for the Royal Marines Museum, opened its doors on 24 October at the historic Boathouse 6 within the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. The building itself is worth a look before you even step inside: a Grade II*-listed boathouse erected between 1845 and 1848, which previously housed the Action Stations Commando Experience. For the museum, it is a long-awaited return to the public; the previous site at Eastney Barracks closed in 2017 after the building deteriorated beyond repair.

The scale of the project is hard to overstate. It cost £15 million to bring to life, backed by a £4.4 million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund alongside money from the Garfield Weston Foundation, Royal Navy Museums reserves and private donations. What you get for that is more than 360 years of Royal Marines history, from 1664 right up to the present day, told through a mix of traditional artefact galleries, multimedia displays, immersive AR and VR and hands-on Commando training challenges. It is a museum you step into rather than just look at, which is exactly what Royal Navy Museums chief executive Matthew Sheldon wanted: to bring visitors closer to the tests of training and the reality of deployment.

The artefacts are the real draw. Among the hundreds on display are all ten Victoria Crosses awarded to Royal Marines, from the Crimean War of 1853-56 through to the Second World War; a Green Beret worn by Marine W.G.C. 'Molly' MacPherson during the 1982 Falklands conflict; the uniform and bugle of Charlie Mallett, the first female bugler in 1997; and the AI Faw briefing model that Warrant Officer 'Mac' McNaghten built in secret on HMS Ocean in 2003 for 40 Commandos. There is also a Remembrance Room, free to enter, where families can reflect on those who lost their lives.

If you are visiting with children, the active side of the experience is where it earns its name. There are physical challenges guided by a digital instructor, a VR combat scenario, a RIB ride from a retired landing platform dock, a traverse wall and a chance to drum with the Royal Marines Band Service. The centrepiece for families and corporate bookings is a Royal Marines Commando-themed Laser Quest arena, roughly 270 square metres in size. Beyond that, the building carries a 400-square-metre custom-built temporary exhibition space, the new Studio, which sits over the Mast Pond and is one of the largest of its kind in southern England, plus a mezzanine with a 275-seat auditorium and a 300-square-metre flexible space. The first temporary show is Through Their Eyes, the Royal Navy Photographic Competition.

On the practical front, entry is included with a Portsmouth Historic Dockyard ticket, so it sits alongside HMS Victory, HMS Warrior and the Mary Rose Museum. An annual ticket for the Dockyard is £51 for adults, and individual members of the Museums Association can visit for free. The venue stays open all year round, so there is no rush to fit it in before winter sets in.