Longford Park
Trafford's largest municipal park, and the rare one that has thought about age gaps: a playground for little ones opposite the cafe, climbing nets and zip lines for eight to fourteens further up. Also a Pets Corner and disc golf.
Parks & outdoors Trafford
Parks & outdoors in Trafford
Playgrounds, country parks, woodland trails and nature reserves. Most of these cost nothing.
3 in Trafford2 free3 suit under-5s
Take Longford Park if your children are years apart: the small playground sits by the cafe, and the eight to fourteens get climbing nets of their own. Sale Water Park costs nothing to walk into, and the flat circuit round its 52 acre lake suits a scooter and a child who stops every forty seconds, though the watersports are charged separately. Dunham Massey is the day you pay for, free to National Trust members, where fallow deer wander right past you and the North Park has giant games and den building on this summer.
Parks & outdoors in Trafford
Sale Water Park
A 52 acre lake inside 152 acres of Mersey valley parkland, with a flat circuit that suits scooters and buggies. There is a cafe and a watersports centre where over-sevens can try paddleboarding and sailing.
Dunham Massey
A Georgian house in a deer park where the fallow deer wander right past you. A summer-holiday Play Hub adds giant games and den building in the North Park, and the winter garden is the area's best cold-day walk.
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 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.
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.