Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery
A proper old-fashioned free museum in the town centre: Egyptian gallery, natural history cases and paintings upstairs, all doable in an hour. Closed Sundays and Mondays, which catches people out.
Days out with the kids in Blackburn
13 places in Blackburn, Lancashire, 4 of which cost nothing. Everything below is within easy reach if you live locally.
13 in Blackburn4 free9 indoor
Witton Country Park does the heavy lifting in Blackburn: 480 acres of woodland trails and adventure playgrounds a mile from the centre, free to get in, with parking from 80p and two smaller car parks, Tower Road and Pleasington, that cost nothing. Corporation Park is the Victorian counterpart on the other side of town, all lake, conservatory and formal terraces, better for prams and scooters than for burning off a wild eight-year-old.
Blackburn Museum covers the wet days for nothing, a proper old town museum in the centre, small enough to do before lunch. The real advantage is position: the Ribble Valley starts twenty minutes north, so Clitheroe's castle and the Bowland boar park bolt on easily, and Towneley's free park is a similar hop east. Days out in Blackburn with kids are mostly free, which takes the sting out of the forecast.
Places in Blackburn
Corporation Park
Blackburn's showpiece Victorian park: a triumphal arch at the gate, two lakes with swans, a playground right beside them and a lime-tree avenue climbing the hill. Free, and less than a mile from the town centre.
Sunnyhurst Wood
Eighty five acres of steep wooded valley on the edge of Darwen, with a brook, footbridges, carved wooden animals hidden along the paths and a 1912 tea kiosk that still sells ice cream. Free, and Green Flag rated.
Witton Country Park
Blackburn's biggest green space: 480 acres with adventure playgrounds, woodland trails and a visitor centre in the old Victorian stables. Free to walk in and £2 at most to park, and it absorbs a whole afternoon without anyone asking for much money.
Darwen Leisure Centre: Total Splash Out and Total Tots
Darwen's council leisure centre has a giant pool inflatable with slides and obstacles for over-5s (£9.50 an hour) and Total Tots, a pay-and-play soft play for 0 to 5s at £3.50. Parking is free for three hours.
Funtazia
24,000 square feet in the middle of Blackburn, with go karts, bumper cars and laser tag alongside the climbing frames. Not really soft play any more, more an indoor funfair.
Tenpin Blackburn
A 24-lane bowling alley on Peel Leisure Park with bumpers and lighter balls for small bowlers, plus arcade games, pool, table tennis and air hockey. A game is from £9.95 online, and Tuesdays are half price.
Flip Out Blackburn
Trampolines, a ninja course and an inflatable obstacle run, with a foam-padded soft play area for the ones too small for all that. Shut on Tuesdays and Thursdays in term time.
Go Ape Blackburn
High ropes and zip wires in the trees of Witton Country Park, with a junior course from age 4 and a bigger one from 6. The park around it is free, so the ropes are the paid hour in a free day.
Blackburn Empire Theatre
A 1910 theatre run by volunteers as a charity, with a proper family panto at Christmas at friendly prices. Outside panto season the family offer is a couple of touring shows a year, so this is mainly a Christmas venue.
King George's Hall
Blackburn's town-centre concert hall. For families it is mainly the Christmas show, The Wizard of Oz this year, plus the odd touring family show; the smaller sister venue in Darwen does more for children.
Planet Ice Blackburn
East Lancashire's ice rink, at Blackburn Arena by the town centre. Public skating is for ages 3 and up, Penguin Club sessions give under-5s a skating aid, and skate hire costs extra. Prices only appear once you book.
Temple of Fun
Darwen's independent play centre with a sensory room, open five days a week in term time and every day in the holidays. Somewhere to sit that is not a plastic bench.
What’s on in Blackburn
21 dated events coming up, 4 of them this weekend.
Tommy & Tilly's Magic Castle: A Spooktacular Pantomime
Blackburn Empire Theatre
1 Nov. Sunday 1 November, 1pm
Tommy and Tilly's Magic Castle, a Halloween half term panto with songs, illusions and audience joining in, at Blackburn Empire Theatre. One show at 1pm on 1 November. Family ticket £47.
Written by us
Youth Group (opens on St Mary's)
St Mary's · Blackburn
1 Nov. Sunday 1 November, 4.30pm
For anyone in Year 6 and up all about fun, friendship and faith.
Listed by St Mary's · collected 1 Nov
Youth Group (opens on St Paul's 'Church in the School' Hoddlesden)
St Paul's 'Church in the School' Hoddlesden · Blackburn
1 Nov. Sunday 1 November, 4.30pm
For anyone in Year 6 and up all about fun, friendship and faith.
Listed by St Paul's 'Church in the School' Hoddlesden · collected 1 Nov
Youth Group (opens on St Barnabas)
St Barnabas · Blackburn
1 Nov. Sunday 1 November, 4.30pm
For anyone in Year 6 and up all about fun, friendship and faith.
Listed by St Barnabas · collected 1 Nov
St Aidan's Tots (opens on St Aidan, Mill Hill)
St Aidan, Mill Hill · Blackburn
2 Nov. Monday 2 November, 10am
Starts at 10am. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Listed by St Aidan, Mill Hill · collected 1 Nov
TIDDLERS & TODDLERS (opens on Blackburn St James's, the Church on the Hill)
Blackburn St James's, the Church on the Hill
2 Nov. Monday 2 November, 10am
A stay and play morning for all parents with young children in the Church lounge.
Listed by Blackburn St James's, the Church on the Hill · collected 1 Nov
Everything on in Blackburn15 more not shown here
Also worth the drive
Not in Blackburn, but close enough for a day out.
Blackpool Pleasure Beach
The big one. Nickelodeon Land covers the primary ages properly while the Big One and the wooden coasters wait for brave older kids. August queues are real; go in expecting them and it is a great day.
Blackpool Tower
Tower Top's glass floor 380 feet up, a proper circus that still knows how to play to kids, and the famous ballroom below for a fancy ice cream. Buy the attractions you want rather than the bundle you will not use.
Sandcastle Waterpark
The UK's biggest indoor waterpark, kept at tropical temperature: proper toddler pools and mini slides at one end, big flumes at the other. Rainy-day Blackpool solved.
Blackpool Zoo
Elephants, gorillas, giraffes and sea lions in 37 acres that are actually walkable with primary-age legs - big enough to feel like a full day, small enough that nobody ends up carried.
Sea Life Blackpool
A solid seafront aquarium with an ocean tunnel and rockpool sessions - the reliable wet-weather hour when the beach plan falls apart.
Stanley Park
Blackpool's grand free option: Italian gardens, a big boating lake, one of the best playgrounds on the coast and model boats on the lake. The antidote to a wristband day.
WWT Martin Mere Wetland Centre
Otters at feeding time, flamingos, pond dipping and a canoe safari through the reeds in season. One of those places that quietly turns a nature-indifferent child into a nature child.
Windmill Animal Farm
A friendly hands-on farm whose star turn is the miniature railway running out across the fields. Animal handling sessions, indoor play for wet spells, and it never feels too big.
What’s on near you, every Friday
One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.