Chester Roman Amphitheatre
The largest Roman amphitheatre uncovered in Britain, sitting in the open just outside the city walls. Only about half of it has been dug out and the rest is still under the buildings behind.
Parks & outdoors Chester
Parks & outdoors in Chester
Playgrounds, country parks, woodland trails and nature reserves. Most of these cost nothing.
4 in Chester3 free4 suit under-5s
Half of Chester's Roman amphitheatre is still buried under the buildings behind it, and the dug-out half sits open and free just outside the city walls. It is the largest uncovered in Britain, which children absorb in roughly four minutes before asking about the train.
Grosvenor Park is free, its miniature railway rides are not. Countess of Chester Country Park is the other new free option, twenty nine hectares of flat waymarked path on the north edge of the city with parking at £1 for two hours on weekdays, and Beeston Castle is the one you pay for unless you are an English Heritage member, a ruin on a crag with a reconstructed Bronze Age roundhouse below the walls.
Parks & outdoors in Chester
Countess of Chester Country Park
Twenty nine hectares on the north edge of Chester, with five waymarked routes. The paths and kissing gates were designed for wheelchairs, which makes it easy going with a pushchair. No playground.
Grosvenor Park & Miniature Railway
Chester's Victorian park above the river, with a miniature railway looping the lawns, a good playground and open-air theatre in summer. Pair with a boat trip from the Groves below.
Beeston Castle
A ruined castle on a crag with views from the Pennines to the Welsh mountains, a reconstructed Bronze Age roundhouse and woodland paths below the walls. Castles do not need roofs to work for this age group.
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 peat bog nature reserve with woodland trails, a visitor centre and an observation tower the kids can climb. Free, close and short enough for little legs.
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.