Days out with the kids in Crewe

Crewe built the railways and the railways built Crewe, so it is fitting that the town's two family cards are a heritage centre full of trains and a park the railway company paid for. Crewe Heritage Centre keeps signal boxes you can climb into, a miniature railway, and the Advanced Passenger Train, British Rail's tilting might-have-been, parked like a lesson in ambition.

Queens Park is the other half: a grand Victorian park with an ornamental lake, a lakeside cafe and a playground that covers toddlers to ten-year-olds, better kept than parks twice as famous. Park at Tip Kinder on Queens Park Drive, because there is no parking inside. When you want a bigger spend, BeWILDerwood's treehouses and zip wires are twenty minutes into the lanes at Cholmondeley, and Nantwich makes the prettier lunch stop.

Places in Crewe

Queens Park, Crewe

Crewe~40 min

Crewe's grand Victorian park: a big ornamental lake, formal flowerbeds, a lakeside cafe and a playground that covers toddlers to ten-year-olds. Free, and better kept than most parks twice as famous.

Free entryAges 4-11

Funsters Crewe

Crewe~45 min

★★★★☆4.1(171)

A family-run play centre in Crewe since 1997, built round a six-storey play frame that the owners reckon is one of the tallest in Europe. Fixed sessions, fair prices, and a separate baby and toddler time in term.

£9.95 a child at weekends and in the holidaysIndoorsAges 1-12

Tenpin Crewe

Crewe~40 min

★★★★☆4.4(365)

Twenty-five lanes on the Phoenix Leisure Park, with laser tag, escape rooms, an arcade and a small soft play alongside. Go on a Tuesday, when bowling is half price.

Bowling from £8.30 a game onlineIndoorsAges 3-14

UA Play Crewe

Crewe~40 min

★★★★☆4.2(418)

The soft play formerly known as GTC, in a converted warehouse near Crewe town centre, with its own car park, open-ended stay and play in term time and £1 adult entry. Closed on term-time Tuesdays.

£8.95 a child at peak, from £6.95 in term timeIndoorsAges 0-10

Crewe Heritage Centre

Crewe~40 min

★★★★★4.5(636)

Full-size locomotives including the record breaking APT tilting train, miniature railway rides, model layouts and a viewing platform right over the West Coast Main Line. Kids go free for the whole 2026 season.

Kids free in 2026, adults pay on the doorCloses 2 NovAges 3-11

Lyceum Theatre

Crewe~40 min

★★★★★4.5(2,257)

Crewe's town-centre theatre, with a Christmas panto and a proper list of touring children's shows, from Dear Zoo Live for toddlers to Horrible Histories.

Price not listedIndoorsAges 1-11

Playworld

Crewe~50 min

★★★★★4.5(379)

Family-run soft play in Shavington, just south of Crewe, themed as a trip round the world: dinosaurs, space blasters, a Wembley pitch and the Great Wall. Drop in on term-time weekdays; weekends and holidays are booked two hour sessions.

Price not listedIndoorsAges 0-10

What’s on in Crewe

3 dated events coming up, 1 of them this weekend.

Also worth the drive

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

Walton Hall & Gardens

Warrington~10 min

★★★★★4.7(6,537)

The reliable default: gardens, a children's zoo, a big playground and plenty of room to run. Pay for parking, nothing else.

Free entry, parking £4 to £5Ages 4-11

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

Apple Jacks Adventure Farm

Warrington~15 min

★★★★☆4.0(593)

An adventure farm off Stretton Road built for 4 to 12s: tractor trailer rides, zip wires, drop slides, jumping pillows, roller skating and a tent full of inflatables. Despite the name there are no animals to see, and in October it turns into Spooky World's daytime Fun-By-Day.

Day ticketWeekends and school holidays in season; October is Spooky World Fun-By-DayAges 4-12

Giggles Play Mill

Warrington~10 min

★★★★☆4.2(164)

Two-tier soft play frame, low climbing wall, pirate ship, crawl tubes and a bouncy slide, plus Messy Monday and sensory sessions during the week.

£6.75 a child, adults freeIndoorsAges 4-8

Jellybeans Play Centre

Warrington~15 min

★★★★☆4.3(504)

Bigger than the average soft play: multi-level frame, a spooky room, an astro slide, a climbing wall, two mini bowling lanes and a slot racing track. The bowling is what makes it work when you have a toddler and a seven-year-old to keep happy at once.

£6 off-peak, £12 at weekends and half termsIndoorsAges 4-9

Fun2b

Warrington~10 min

★★★★☆4.2(200)

Straightforward multi-level soft play with a café that adults can actually sit in. Nothing fancy, reliably works.

Session priceIndoorsAges 4-8

Tenpin Warrington

Warrington~10 min

★★★★☆4.2(1,663)

Soft play plus bowling under one roof, which solves the two-different-ages problem in a single trip. Ask for the barriers if anyone is under about six.

Per game / sessionIndoorsAges 4-11