Parks & outdoors Fleetwood
Playgrounds, country parks, woodland trails and nature reserves. Most of these cost nothing.
Marine Gardens sounds like a flowerbed and is actually a large inclusive playground, a skate bowl, a model boating lake and pitch and putt. The beach is across the road. Memorial Park in the middle of town has the duck pond, woodland, play areas and a games court that costs nothing to use. Wyre Estuary Country Park, just up the river at Stanah in Thornton, has the cafe, the free parking and two natural play areas along the riverbank.
The name undersells it. Fleetwood's seafront gardens hold a large playground with inclusive equipment, a skate bowl, a model boating lake the yacht club races on, bowling greens and pitch and putt. The beach is across the road.
A Green Flag park in the middle of Fleetwood with children's play areas, a duck pond, woodland and a multi use games court that is genuinely free to use. Parkour bars too, though those are for over eights.
A leaning lookout tower in the dunes between Cleveleys and Fleetwood, run by volunteer rangers, with binoculars, beach finds and views to the Lake District. Free, weekends only, and next to a play area and car park.
The reliable default: gardens, a children's zoo, a big playground and plenty of room to run. Pay for parking, nothing else.
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.
St Helens' biggest park. Play areas, open space and a walled garden, and it costs nothing.
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.
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.
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.
One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.