Beacon Country Park
Over 300 acres of woodland, meadow and proper hills on the slopes of Ashurst Beacon, with inclusive play areas and a cafe by the car park. Free in, free parking, and enough path network to tire out anyone.
Parks & outdoors Ormskirk
Parks & outdoors in Ormskirk
Playgrounds, country parks, woodland trails and nature reserves. Most of these cost nothing.
4 in Ormskirk3 free3 suit under-5s
Beacon Country Park charges nothing to get in and nothing to park, and it has over 300 acres of hills, woodland, meadow and inclusive play areas. There is a cafe by the car park up there, while Coronation Park in the centre of Ormskirk is twenty acres with two play areas split by age, a teen skatepark, a bandstand, a free outdoor gym and printable phonics and maths trails if you are that organised. Mere Sands Wood out at Rufford charges £4 to park and earns it, because ninety five per cent of its paths take a buggy or a wheelchair, which is rare for a nature reserve.
Parks & outdoors in Ormskirk
Coronation Park, Ormskirk
Twenty acres in the centre of Ormskirk, Green Flag since 2008: two play areas split by age, a teen skatepark, duck pond, bandstand and a free outdoor gym. Printable phonics and maths trails as well.
Mere Sands Wood Nature Reserve
Ninety five per cent of the paths take a buggy or a wheelchair, which is rare for a nature reserve. Old sand quarry lakes outside Rufford, run by the Lancashire Wildlife Trust, with six hides and a viewing platform.
Rufford Old Hall
A Tudor hall with armour, a giant squirrel topiary and a canal alongside, where the National Trust lends out balance bikes and has built a nature play area in the woods. A good one for mixed ages, and free if you are members.
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.