Alexandra Park
Oldham's Victorian showpiece, 72 acres built by out-of-work cotton spinners. Lake, duck pond, cafe on the water, seven free tennis courts and a playground with a proper accessible section.
Parks & outdoors Oldham
Parks & outdoors in Oldham
Playgrounds, country parks, woodland trails and nature reserves. Most of these cost nothing.
4 in Oldham4 free4 suit under-5s
Out-of-work cotton spinners built Alexandra Park's 72 acres, and it still has the lake, the duck pond, a cafe on the water and seven free tennis courts. The playground has a proper accessible section.
Chadderton Hall Park has a cafe and therefore toilets, on a flat site with parking and a sand pit in the play area. Tandle Hill is 110 acres of beech wood above Royton with a war memorial you can see Manchester from, and Dunwood sits 300 metres from a tram stop, so you can manage that one without a car.
Parks & outdoors in Oldham
Chadderton Hall Park
The Chadderton park with the cafe, and therefore the toilets. Play area with a sand pit and accessible swings, free tennis, a river walk and ornamental gardens, all on a flat site with parking.
Dunwood Park
Small, tidy and 300 metres from a tram stop, which makes Dunwood the one you can do without a car. Playground, three tennis courts, a bowling green and free parking if you do drive.
Tandle Hill Country Park
110 acres of beech wood and open grass above Royton, with a play area, an orienteering course and a hilltop war memorial you can see Manchester from. Free car park, small.
Parks & outdoors elsewhere in the North West
Dinosaur Trail at Bents
A prehistoric trail winding through a garden centre, with interactive bits along the way. Under-2s free, and there's a café and indoor shelter if the weather turns.
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.
Free Summer in Warrington
Inflatables in Old Market Square every day, plus a rotating Wednesday programme across the parks and a Thursday session in Time Square. No tickets, no booking, just turn up.
Risley Moss
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.
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.