Hadlow Road Station (Wirral Way)
A country station restored to look like the 1950s, at the Cheshire end of the Wirral Way, with toilets and a traffic-free old railway path to Parkgate. Bring bikes, and mind the 2.2m car park height barrier.
Parks & outdoors Ellesmere Port
Parks & outdoors in Ellesmere Port
Playgrounds, country parks, woodland trails and nature reserves. Most of these cost nothing.
4 in Ellesmere Port4 free4 suit under-5s
The M53 stops being audible two hundred metres into Rivacre Valley, which is not what you expect a minute off junction 7. There are 184 acres of wooded valley and brook in there, with a permanent orienteering course and bluebells in spring.
Whitby Park suits younger children: two play areas, a skatepark, tennis, a fish pond and free parking off Stanney Lane. Stanney Woods has level compacted paths a pram will manage, no toilets, and gates that shut at five.
Parks & outdoors in Ellesmere Port
Rivacre Valley Local Nature Reserve
184 acres of wooded valley and brook a minute off junction 7 of the M53, and the traffic noise is gone two hundred metres in. Paths, picnic meadows, a permanent orienteering course, bluebells in spring.
Stanney Woods Local Nature Reserve
Twenty two hectares of ancient oak and birch woodland with a small free car park, level compacted paths and no gradient steeper than 1 in 10, so prams and wheelchairs manage it. No toilets, and the gates shut at five.
Whitby Park
Ellesmere Port's main park and a Green Flag one: a play area for children up to 12, a wheels park, parkour kit, climbing boulders, free tennis courts in season and a fish pond, with Theatre Porto in the old hall. Free, with parking off Stanney Lane.
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.