Adventure & rides in Blackburn

Blackburn's paid options run from treetops to ice. Go Ape sits in Witton Country Park, with a junior high ropes course from age 4 and a bigger one from 6, from £20.95 a child. The park around it is free, so the ropes are the paid hour in an otherwise free day. Planet Ice at Blackburn Arena, by the town centre, has public skating for ages 3 and up, and Penguin Club sessions give under-5s a skating aid. Skate hire is extra and prices only show once you book.

Tenpin on Peel Leisure Park is the indoor fallback: 24 lanes with bumpers and lighter balls for small bowlers, plus arcade games, pool, table tennis and air hockey. A game is from £9.95 booked online, so a family of four soon adds up across a couple of games. Go on a Tuesday, when the bowling is half price and the sums look a lot kinder.

Adventure & rides in Blackburn

Tenpin Blackburn

Blackburn~50 min

★★★★☆4.2(927)

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.

From £9.95 a game booked onlineIndoorsAges 3-16

Go Ape Blackburn

Blackburn~40 min

★★★★★4.8(165)

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.

From £20.95 a childAges 4-12

Planet Ice Blackburn

Blackburn~50 min

★★★★☆4.2(1,075)

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.

Price shown at booking, skate hire extraIndoorsAges 3-16

Adventure & rides elsewhere in the North West

Jungle Parc

Warrington~10 min

★★★★★4.5(10)

Treetop rope courses in the woods at Walton Hall Gardens. The Warrington site runs the Adventurer course, built for children from age 4 with a minimum height of 1.05m, with over 60 activities at different heights. Children £19; supervising adults walking below go free.

Children £19, supervising adults freeAges 4-11

Gulliver's World

Warrington~15 min

★★★★☆4.0(9,643)

A theme park deliberately built for ages 2 to 13 rather than teenagers, so both of them can ride most of it. The classic full-day option on your doorstep.

Full day ticketAges 4-9

BeWILDerwood Cheshire

Malpas~45 min

★★★★★4.6(1,400)

The best age match of anything on this list. Reviewers put the sweet spot at 2 to 10 and say a 4-year-old can do essentially the whole park; the map colour-codes areas by age and puts mini zipwires beside the full-size ones. Budget four to six hours.

From £20.95; under 92cm freeAges 4-10

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

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

The Snow Centre Manchester

Trafford~25 min

★★★★☆4.4(5,629)

Real snow all year round at the venue Manchester still calls Chill Factore. Over-fours get the Snow Park with sledging, Downhill Donuts and an ice slide at weekends and in the school holidays; older kids can learn to ski or board on the UK's longest indoor real snow slope.

Pay per sessionIndoorsAges 4-11