Parks & outdoors Nantwich
Playgrounds, country parks, woodland trails and nature reserves. Most of these cost nothing.
Nantwich Lake and the riverside loop is the free default: flat, buggy friendly, ducks and swans in quantity, a snack kiosk, and no reason to spend anything. It is the sort of place you go back to fortnightly rather than plan a day around.
The other two cost. Cholmondeley Castle Gardens is romantic gardens around a turreted castle with a play area down by the mere, ten pounds an adult and five a child. Snugburys on the A51 is free to walk into and takes its money at the ice cream counter, which with 35 or so flavours made on site is a fair trade. The straw sculpture in the field changes every year and is the reason half the cars stop.
A flat, buggy friendly loop round a lake full of ducks and swans, a snack kiosk, a play area along the riverside path, and one of Cheshire's prettiest market towns a few minutes' walk away. All free, parking included.
Romantic gardens around a turreted castle, with a play area down by the Mere, a natural play Den and a lakeside trail with a bird hide. Only open Wednesdays, Thursdays, Sundays and bank holidays, so check before setting off.
The famous ice cream farm on the A51 with 35-plus flavours made on site and a 50ft straw Paddington in the field. Be clear what it is: an ice cream stop with room to wander, not a day out, and it is very good at being exactly that.
The reliable default: gardens, a children's zoo, a big playground and plenty of room to run. Pay for parking, nothing else.
A peat bog nature reserve with woodland trails, a visitor centre and an observation tower the kids can climb. Free, close and short enough for little legs.
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.