Days out with the kids in Poynton

Pure Imagination is a role play centre on London Road South: a cafe next to an enchanted forest, a hospital next to an ocean, and coffee within sight of all of it. A 90-minute session is £10 for one adult and one child, which makes it a cheap wet morning for pre-schoolers.

This autumn it runs a Wriggly Roadshow animal morning on Saturday 17 October and a Halloween disco on the 31st, both ticketed separately. Poynton's own bonfire, run by the Round Table in Poynton Park, is on Saturday 7 November.

The Anson Engine Museum on Anson Road is the other reason to stop: a volunteer-run collection of gas and oil engines on the old colliery site, £8 an adult with under-13s free. It opens on Fridays until 23 October, and the last steam days of 2026 are Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 October, when the engines actually run. Go then if you can.

Places in Poynton

Anson Engine Museum

Poynton~40 min

★★★★★4.7(210)

Go on a steam day. The rest of the time this volunteer run collection of gas and oil engines, one of the largest in the country, sits still on the site of the old Anson Colliery in Poynton.

Adults £8, under-13s freeIndoorsClosed until springAges 4-14

Brookside Miniature Railway

Poynton~40 min

★★★★★4.7(616)

A miniature railway with a ride of over half a mile around Brookside Garden Centre in Poynton, past a signal box, a fairy wood and the engine sheds. £2.50 a ride for anyone over 2, and Halloween and Christmas runs cost the same.

£2.50 a ride, under-2s freeAges 1-8

Pure Imagination

Poynton~45 min

★★★★★4.8(148)

A role play centre on Poynton's main road where a cafe sits next to an enchanted forest and a hospital next to an ocean. Ninety-minute sessions, £10 for an adult and a child, and coffee and cake within sight of the play.

£10 for one adult and one childIndoorsAges 1-6

Also worth the drive

Not in Poynton, but close enough for a day out.

Walton Hall & Gardens

Warrington~10 min

★★★★★4.7(6,537)

The reliable default: gardens, a children's zoo, a big playground and plenty of room to run. Pay for parking, nothing else.

Free entry, parking £4 to £5Ages 4-11

Jungle Parc

Warrington~10 min

★★★★★4.5(10)

Treetop rope courses in the woods at Walton Hall Gardens. The Warrington site runs the Adventurer course, built for children from age 4 with a minimum height of 1.05m, with over 60 activities at different heights. Children £19; supervising adults walking below go free.

Children £19, supervising adults freeAges 4-11

Gulliver's World

Warrington~15 min

★★★★☆4.0(9,643)

A theme park deliberately built for ages 2 to 13 rather than teenagers, so both of them can ride most of it. The classic full-day option on your doorstep.

Full day ticketAges 4-9

Apple Jacks Adventure Farm

Warrington~15 min

★★★★☆4.0(593)

An adventure farm off Stretton Road built for 4 to 12s: tractor trailer rides, zip wires, drop slides, jumping pillows, roller skating and a tent full of inflatables. Despite the name there are no animals to see, and in October it turns into Spooky World's daytime Fun-By-Day.

Day ticketWeekends and school holidays in season; October is Spooky World Fun-By-DayAges 4-12

Giggles Play Mill

Warrington~10 min

★★★★☆4.2(164)

Two-tier soft play frame, low climbing wall, pirate ship, crawl tubes and a bouncy slide, plus Messy Monday and sensory sessions during the week.

£6.75 a child, adults freeIndoorsAges 4-8

Jellybeans Play Centre

Warrington~15 min

★★★★☆4.3(504)

Bigger than the average soft play: multi-level frame, a spooky room, an astro slide, a climbing wall, two mini bowling lanes and a slot racing track. The bowling is what makes it work when you have a toddler and a seven-year-old to keep happy at once.

£6 off-peak, £12 at weekends and half termsIndoorsAges 4-9

Fun2b

Warrington~10 min

★★★★☆4.2(200)

Straightforward multi-level soft play with a café that adults can actually sit in. Nothing fancy, reliably works.

Session priceIndoorsAges 4-8

Tenpin Warrington

Warrington~10 min

★★★★☆4.2(1,663)

Soft play plus bowling under one roof, which solves the two-different-ages problem in a single trip. Ask for the barriers if anyone is under about six.

Per game / sessionIndoorsAges 4-11