Astley Hall & Park
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.
Parks & outdoors Chorley
Parks & outdoors in Chorley
Playgrounds, country parks, woodland trails and nature reserves. Most of these cost nothing.
3 in Chorley3 free2 suit under-5s
Chorley punches above its weight here and Rivington is the reason. Lord Leverhulme's terraced gardens went to ruin and were half swallowed by the hillside, and what is left is ruined terraces, tunnels and archways you can walk straight into, for free, at any hour. It is the most atmospheric free thing in this part of Lancashire and it needs proper shoes.
Astley Hall is the gentler option, a startling glass-fronted Tudor house, free to go in, in a free park with the Royalists' Retreat play area. Yarrow Valley covers the buggy end: 700 acres of wooded river valley, colour-coded trails and a lodge full of ducks, with parking the only cost at Birkacre. Do Rivington on a clear day and save the other two for the day the hill is in cloud.
Parks & outdoors in Chorley
Rivington Terraced Gardens & Great House Barn
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.
Yarrow Valley Country Park
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.
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.