Days out with the kids in Ashton-under-Lyne & Tameside

Tameside is half a dozen towns sharing one borough, so this page covers the lot rather than Ashton alone. The free end is good. Portland Basin Museum sits on the canal in Ashton with a walk-through 1920s street and a play zone for under fives. Stamford Park, on the Stalybridge side, has a sandpit playground, water jets in the warm months, a boating lake and a little train at £1.50 a ride. Werneth Low above Hyde is the hill: 200 acres, a view to the Welsh mountains on a clear day, and very little else.

The paid days split by weather. Cockfields Farm Park on the Oldham border is the big farm day, listed at £18.95 a head and given over to pumpkins in October and a Christmas village from late November. When it rains, Adventure Medlock in Droylsden does caving, high ropes and Clip 'n Climb at leisure-centre prices, and Hyde Leisure Pool runs its wave machine and rapids in 90-minute fun sessions on Thursday and Friday evenings and at weekends. Those sell out, so book.

Places in Ashton-under-Lyne & Tameside

Portland Basin Museum

Ashton-under-Lyne & Tameside~40 min

★★★★★4.6(1,578)

Tameside's free canal-side museum, with a walk-through 1920s street and a play zone for under fives. Closed Mondays, open bank holidays.

Free entryIndoorsAges 2-11

Stamford Park, Stalybridge

Ashton-under-Lyne & Tameside~45 min

★★★★★4.5(2,977)

Tameside's all-rounder on the Ashton and Stalybridge border: a big sandpit playground, summer water fountains, a boating lake, a miniature train, crazy golf and an aviary. Free to get in, pocket money for the extras.

Free - small charges for boats, train and golfAges 1-11

Werneth Low Country Park

Ashton-under-Lyne & Tameside~45 min

★★★★★4.8(388)

A 200 acre hilltop above Hyde with views across Manchester to the Welsh mountains on a clear day, and a proper hill for a kite. Very little else, and that is the point.

FreeAges 3-11

Adventure Medlock

Ashton-under-Lyne & Tameside~35 min

A council-run indoor adventure centre in Droylsden: Clip 'n Climb walls, a 54 metre crawl-through cave, a high ropes course hung from the ceiling, bouldering and soft play, at leisure-centre prices. Weekends and school holidays only for most of it.

Caving or high ropes £7, Clip 'n Climb £13.47IndoorsAges 4-14

Hollywood Bowl Manchester (Ashton Leisure Park)

Ashton-under-Lyne & Tameside~45 min

★★★★☆4.2(2,962)

A 26-lane Hollywood Bowl on Ashton Leisure Park, billed as Manchester but in Ashton. Bumpers, ramps and light balls for small bowlers, an arcade and diner, and eat, drink and bowl from £8.50 each.

Eat, drink and bowl from £8.50 eachIndoorsAges 3-16

Hyde Leisure Pool

Ashton-under-Lyne & Tameside~45 min

★★★★☆4.3(1,513)

Tameside's fun pool, with a wave machine, a wild water rapids ride, bubble beds and the Red Ripster slide. Only open for fun sessions on Thursday and Friday evenings and at weekends, and they sell out.

Child £6.22, family £23.83IndoorsAges 2-11

Cockfields Farm Park

Ashton-under-Lyne & Tameside~45 min

★★★★☆4.4(2,361)

A big family-run farm park on the Ashton and Oldham border: feed the cows, alpacas and goats, hold the rabbits, then lose an hour on the jumping pillow. Card only, and from October most days are ticketed events.

£18.95 each listed; events extraAges 1-10

What’s on in Ashton-under-Lyne & Tameside

13 dated events coming up, 3 of them this weekend.

Also worth the drive

Not in Ashton-under-Lyne & Tameside, but close enough for a day out.

Zip World Manchester

Manchester~35 min

★★★★★4.7(752)

Treetop nets, high ropes and forest tubing in the woods of Heaton Park, and it is outdoors, not indoors. The cheap one is Treetot Nets: an hour bouncing on nets in the trees for ages 1 to 5, from £5, with a grown-up joining in.

Treetot Nets from £5, Treetop Nets from £25Ages 1-11

Pennington Flash

Leigh~20 min

★★★★★4.5(294)

A big lake with easy flat paths, bird hides and a decent play area. Free, close, and a good one for scooters and a picnic.

Free, parking £2.50 all dayAges 4-11

Science and Industry Museum

Manchester~30 min

★★★★☆4.4(20,615)

Working steam engines, the story of Cottonopolis, and hands-on galleries in the world's oldest surviving passenger railway station. Free, and the live demonstrations are the bit kids actually remember.

Free entryIndoorsAges 4-11

Manchester Museum

Manchester~30 min

★★★★★4.7(10,653)

A T. rex skeleton cast, live frogs in the vivarium, Egyptian mummies and a genuinely good natural history floor. Free, university-run, and less overwhelming than the big London equivalents.

Free entryIndoorsAges 4-11

National Football Museum

Manchester~30 min

★★★★☆4.3(7,724)

Shirts, trophies and match footage across four gallery floors, with a penalty shootout and skills games that football-mad kids refuse to leave. If yours do not care about football, skip it: it is exactly what it says.

Adults £16, children £10 onlineIndoorsAges 6-11

Imperial War Museum North

Trafford~25 min

★★★★★4.5(8,332)

War told through people's stories in a building designed to feel like a shattered globe. The hourly Big Picture Show projections fill the whole gallery and stop everyone mid-step. Heavy themes, handled well, and better for the top end of primary.

Free entryIndoorsAges 7-11

RHS Garden Bridgewater

Salford~25 min

★★★★★4.6(5,903)

One of the biggest garden projects in Europe, and more fun for kids than a flower garden has any right to be: a huge walled kitchen garden, lake walks, and space to run that feels endless.

Ticketed - RHS members freeAges 4-11

Legoland Discovery Centre

Trafford~25 min

★★★★☆4.0(4,657)

Two rides, a 4D cinema, build zones and Manchester's skyline done in miniature bricks. Squarely aimed at 3 to 10, and it knows it: adults can only visit with a child.

Book online - walk-up costs moreIndoorsAges 4-9