Botanic Gardens, Churchtown
Victorian gardens with an aviary, a lake, a fernery and a good playground, in Southport's prettiest village corner. Free, open every day of the year, and old-fashioned in the way that quietly suits small children.
Parks & outdoors Southport
Parks & outdoors in Southport
Playgrounds, country parks, woodland trails and nature reserves. Most of these cost nothing.
4 in Southport3 free4 suit under-5s
King's Gardens is the seventeen-acre restored Victorian seafront, free, with the Venetian Bridge and the Marine Lake, and it is the natural spine of a Southport day between the pier and the shops. Botanic Gardens in Churchtown is the quieter one a couple of miles inland: aviary, lake, fernery and a good playground, also free.
The Model Railway Village is the one that charges, £8.50 an adult and £6.50 a child, and it is squarely for the under-eights: an acre and a half of miniature Lancashire with one of the biggest garden railways in the country running through it. Older children give it twenty minutes. Younger ones will not leave.
Parks & outdoors in Southport
King's Gardens
Seventeen acres of restored Victorian seafront gardens with the Venetian Bridge over Marine Lake, boat hire, and the Tree Top Towers playground. Free, flat and right on the Promenade, so it slots around anything else you are doing in Southport.
RSPB Marshside
A free RSPB wetland just north of Southport with two hides a short flat walk from the car park. In winter the sky fills with pink-footed geese, which is worth the trip on its own. No cafe, no baby change, bring a flask.
Southport Model Railway Village
A one and a half acre miniature Lancashire with one of the biggest garden railway systems in the UK, aimed squarely at the under-8s. Open late April to late September, and the trains stop if the weather turns nasty.
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.