Days out with the kids in Chorley

Chorley's two headline days are both free, both green and usefully different. Astley Hall is the startling glass-fronted Tudor house, free to go in, in a park with the Royalists' Retreat play area and a walled garden; Yarrow Valley is the wooded river valley with a duck-covered lodge and Yarrow Rocks, a play area that lets children take a few honest risks.

The third card is the strange one. Rivington's Terraced Gardens, on the slopes below the Pike, are a lost Edwardian landscape of stone staircases, lakes and follies half-reclaimed from the woodland, free to wander and faintly magical, though the steps rule out prams and unsteady toddlers. Pack a picnic and a day out in Chorley with kids costs parking money at worst, which forgives a lot of Lancashire weather.

Places in Chorley

Astley Hall & Park

Chorley~35 min

★★★★★4.7(2,766)

A startling glass-fronted Tudor hall, free to visit, in a free park with the Royalists' Retreat play area, a walled garden and Cafe Ambio. Chorley's pride, and rightly so.

Free, hall includedAges 4-11

Rivington Terraced Gardens & Great House Barn

Chorley~30 min

★★★★★4.5(2,568)

Lord Leverhulme's lost hillside gardens: ruined terraces, tunnels and archways, ornamental lakes and the Pigeon Tower on the skyline, all free and never shut. Brilliant for kids who like exploring, hopeless with a pushchair.

Free, always openAges 5-11

Yarrow Valley Country Park

Chorley~35 min

★★★★★4.7(2,543)

A 700 acre wooded river valley with a lodge full of ducks, colour-coded trails and Yarrow Rocks, a play area that actually lets kids take a few risks. The Treeface cafe by the main car park sorts the bribes.

Free - pay to park at BirkacreAges 3-11

What’s on in Chorley

9 dated events coming up.

Also worth the drive

Not in Chorley, but close enough for a day out.

Blackpool Pleasure Beach

Blackpool~1 hr

★★★★☆4.3(35,528)

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.

Wristbands - cheaper onlineAges 4-11

Blackpool Tower

Blackpool~1 hr

★★★★★4.5(18,434)

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.

Per-attraction ticketsIndoorsAges 4-11

Sandcastle Waterpark

Blackpool~1 hr

★★★★☆4.3(8,767)

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.

Book online - cheaperIndoorsAges 4-11

Blackpool Zoo

Blackpool~1 hr

★★★★★4.6(17,786)

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.

Book online - cheaperAges 4-11

Sea Life Blackpool

Blackpool~1 hr

★★★★☆4.4(11,062)

A solid seafront aquarium with an ocean tunnel and rockpool sessions - the reliable wet-weather hour when the beach plan falls apart.

Book online - cheaperIndoorsAges 4-9

Stanley Park

Blackpool~1 hr

★★★★★4.6(6,085)

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.

FreeAges 4-11

WWT Martin Mere Wetland Centre

Burscough~40 min

★★★★★4.7(3,181)

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.

Day ticket - WWT members freeAges 4-11

Windmill Animal Farm

Burscough~40 min

★★★★★4.7(1,883)

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.

Day ticketIndoorsAges 4-8