Bramall Hall & Park
A black and white Tudor manor house sitting in around 60 acres of parkland with woods, brooks and lakes. The park costs nothing, under 16s go into the hall free, and all-day parking is £4.
Days out with the kids in Stockport
12 places in Stockport, Greater Manchester, 4 of which cost nothing. Everything below is within easy reach if you live locally.
12 in Stockport4 free6 indoor
Stockport's headline act is underground. The Air Raid Shelters are a labyrinth of tunnels carved beneath the town centre that sheltered thousands in the Blitz, explored by audio tour, and they are cheap, atmospheric and best from about seven up. Above ground the borough leans green: Lyme Park has 1,400 acres, red deer and the Crow Wood adventure playground on the edge of the Peaks, and Etherow Country Park does ducks, waterfalls and flat pram-friendly paths for nothing.
Locals fill the gaps with Reddish Vale Farm for animal feeding and Bramall Hall, a black-and-white Tudor manor whose park earns the trip even when the house tempts nobody. Rainy days are the weak spot - the shelters are the main indoor card, so save them for one. Days out in Stockport with kids run noticeably cheaper than the same day in Manchester, twenty minutes up the road.
Places in Stockport
Bruntwood Park
Stockport's big council park in Cheadle, with a fully accessible playground, a free BMX race track and an 18-hole pitch and putt at £6.50 for juniors. Free to visit, but the car park is pay and display.
Etherow Country Park
A big lake crowded with waterfowl, a flat path alongside it and a cafe where you left the car: the easiest small-child walk in the Stockport area. Entry is free, the car park is not.
Hat Works Museum
The UK's only museum of hats and hatting, back open after a four-year refurbishment. The galleries are free and you can try hats on; the Victorian factory floor is an £8.50 guided tour on selected dates. An hour well spent, not a full day.
Avro Heritage Museum
Aviation museum on the old Woodford aerodrome, home to the only all-white Vulcan bomber, with cockpit tours and a free flight simulator. Under-11s go free, and it opens Friday to Sunday only.
Lyme Park
A proper deer park on the edge of the Peaks: 1,400 acres, a herd of red deer, the Crow Wood adventure playground, and the house from the BBC's Pride and Prejudice.
Reddish Vale Farm
A proper small farm park tucked into the Tame valley on Stockport's edge: cows, goats, shire horses and alpacas, zip wires outside and a play area under cover for when it rains. Book online, the gate price is higher.
Staircase House
Stockport's oldest town house, done out as a hands-on walk from the 15th century to the 20th and named after a rare Jacobean cage newel staircase. An hour does it.
Stockport Air Raid Shelters
A labyrinth of tunnels carved under the town centre that sheltered thousands in the Blitz, explored with a self-guided audio tour. Atmospheric in the best way for 7-and-ups.
The Garden House, Marple
A charity farm by the River Goyt in Marple where alpacas, pigs and Shetland ponies roam the riverside walk. £3.50 each for ages 3 and up, with playgrounds and a café, and closed every Monday.
Jump Heaven
Stockport's trampoline and adventure park in Hazel Grove: 75 linked trampolines, foam pits, an airbag, four ninja courses and a climbing wall. Not cheap at £15 an hour, but the Monday to Wednesday term-time deal gives you two hours for that.
Stockport Plaza
A restored 1932 Art Deco cinema and variety theatre with its own cinema organ and Art Deco tea rooms. Families come for two pantos a year and the Christmas extras rather than a regular programme.
What’s on in Stockport
18 dated events coming up, 4 of them this weekend.
Storytime at Stockroom (weekly) (opens in a new tab)
Stockroom (Stockport central library), Merseyway
until 20 Jan. Wednesdays, 11am to 11.30am
A free half hour of stories for under 5s at Stockroom, the new library in Merseyway. Every Wednesday at 11am. It is free but they ask you to book so they know numbers.
Written by us
Doors to Hallowtide at Lyme
Lyme, Disley · Stockport
until 1 Nov. Daily, 17 October to 1 November, 10.30am to 4pm
An interactive outdoor art installation for half term: step through a series of mysterious doorways to find local folklore, old traditions and ghost stories. The listing gives no separate price, so assume normal Lyme admission until the National Trust says otherwise.
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The Witch's Potion Trail at Bramall Hall
Bramall Hall, Bramhall · Stockport
until 1 Nov. 22 to 25 October and 27 October to 1 November, 11am to 3.30pm
Batilda the witch has dropped her potion ingredients all over the house, and children hunt them down room by room for a small prize. Recommended from age 3; adults pay normal house admission.
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Arc Saturday Art Club
Arc at Hat Works, Wellington Road South · Stockport
until 28 Nov. Last Saturday of the month: 31 October and 28 November, 11am to 3pm
Arc's monthly art club at Hat Works in Stockport, where adults and children make things together. Drop in between 11am and 3pm, with a suggested £3 donation per artist if you can afford it.
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Woodford Community Centre Bonfire (opens in a new tab)
Woodford Community Centre, Chester Road, Woodford · Stockport
5 Nov. Thursday 5 November: gates 5.45pm, children's display 7pm, main display 8pm
Always on the fifth itself, with a children's display at 7pm and the main one at 8pm. There is strictly no parking at the centre, so it is Notcutts car park, the 42B bus or a mile's walk from Poynton or Bramhall stations.
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Vale Fire & Fireworks Festival at Reddish Vale Farm
Reddish Vale Farm, Stockport
5 Nov to 6 Nov. 5 and 6 November, 5pm to 8pm
Two Bonfire Night evenings at the farm, from 5pm, with a Pyrotex firework display set to music. Tickets through the farm's website; prices were not shown when we checked.
Written by us
Everything on in Stockport12 more not shown here
Also worth the drive
Not in Stockport, but close enough for a day out.
Zip World Manchester
Treetop nets, high ropes and forest tubing in the woods of Heaton Park, and it is outdoors, not indoors. The cheap one is Treetot Nets: an hour bouncing on nets in the trees for ages 1 to 5, from £5, with a grown-up joining in.
Pennington Flash
A big lake with easy flat paths, bird hides and a decent play area. Free, close, and a good one for scooters and a picnic.
Science and Industry Museum
Working steam engines, the story of Cottonopolis, and hands-on galleries in the world's oldest surviving passenger railway station. Free, and the live demonstrations are the bit kids actually remember.
Manchester Museum
A T. rex skeleton cast, live frogs in the vivarium, Egyptian mummies and a genuinely good natural history floor. Free, university-run, and less overwhelming than the big London equivalents.
National Football Museum
Shirts, trophies and match footage across four gallery floors, with a penalty shootout and skills games that football-mad kids refuse to leave. If yours do not care about football, skip it: it is exactly what it says.
Imperial War Museum North
War told through people's stories in a building designed to feel like a shattered globe. The hourly Big Picture Show projections fill the whole gallery and stop everyone mid-step. Heavy themes, handled well, and better for the top end of primary.
RHS Garden Bridgewater
One of the biggest garden projects in Europe, and more fun for kids than a flower garden has any right to be: a huge walled kitchen garden, lake walks, and space to run that feels endless.
Legoland Discovery Centre
Two rides, a 4D cinema, build zones and Manchester's skyline done in miniature bricks. Squarely aimed at 3 to 10, and it knows it: adults can only visit with a child.
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.