Gawthorpe Hall
Jacobean hall on the edge of Padiham with free gardens, woodland walks and a natural play area. Children go into the hall free with an adult, adults pay £7, and parking is free. A cheap half day with a house thrown in.
Parks & outdoors Burnley
Parks & outdoors in Burnley
Playgrounds, country parks, woodland trails and nature reserves. Most of these cost nothing.
4 in Burnley4 free4 suit under-5s
Burnley's three are unusually unalike, and between them they cover a whole day without repeating themselves. Thompson Park does the restored Edwardian turn with a boating lake and a miniature railway, the closest thing to a seaside afternoon this far inland. Towneley Hall sits in parkland that was always the better half, and the hall itself reopened after a £3.6m restoration.
Then there is the Singing Ringing Tree, which is not a park at all: a steel sculpture on the moor above the town that hums in the wind. It is free, always open, and about twenty minutes of walking from the car. Small children either find it eerie or find it hilarious, and it is worth the detour to discover which.
Parks & outdoors in Burnley
The Singing Ringing Tree
A wind-powered steel sculpture on the moor above Burnley that hums when the weather blows, with a view worth the short climb. It is a half-hour stop, not a day out, so pair it with a walk or Towneley Hall.
Thompson Park
Burnley's restored Edwardian park does the full seaside-without-the-sea turn: rowing boats, a paddling pool, a volunteer-run miniature railway and a boathouse cafe. Time it for a sunny weekend when everything is actually running.
Towneley Hall & Park
The hall is back open after its £3.6m restoration, but the park was always the real family day: playgrounds, gardens, woodland trails and a cafe right by the play area. Park free, parking cheap, and kids get into the hall for nothing.
Parks & outdoors elsewhere in the North West
Walton Hall & Gardens
The reliable default: gardens, a children's zoo, a big playground and plenty of room to run. Pay for parking, nothing else.
Risley Moss
A raised peat bog nature reserve at Birchwood with woodland trails, bird hides and a visitor centre with toilets. Free, close and short enough for little legs, but closed on Fridays.
Sherdley Park
St Helens' biggest park. Play areas, open space and a walled garden, and it costs nothing.
Dream, Sutton Manor
A 20-metre white head rising out of a reclaimed colliery, with woodland trails around it. Genuinely strange and memorable for kids, and a short walk rather than a hike.
Sankey Valley Park
A green corridor of canal towpath and parkland running from St Helens down towards Warrington. Flat, traffic-free and ideal if the bikes or scooters are coming.
Speke Hall
A Tudor hall with woodland walks, a maze and a natural play area in the grounds. Free if you have National Trust membership, and the indoor house is a good rain fallback.
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.