Witton Country Park
Blackburn's biggest green space: 480 acres with adventure playgrounds, woodland trails and a visitor centre in the old Victorian stables. Free in, free to park, and it absorbs a whole afternoon without anyone asking for money.
Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery
Blackburn, Lancashire
One of the first purpose-built free museums outside London, open since 1874 and still not charging. It is compact, which with children is a virtue: an Egyptian gallery, natural history specimens, coins and manuscripts, and art upstairs, all covered before anyone's legs give out. Pitch it as a treasure house rather than an art gallery and primary-age kids do surprisingly well here.
The catch is the diary. Doors open Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 4.45pm, and stay shut Sundays, Mondays and bank holidays. School holidays bring free drop-in activities for all ages, and a free Saturday Art Club runs for young people through the year. It is five minutes from the cathedral and a short hop from Corporation Park, so Blackburn can fill a whole free day if you sequence it right.
What it costs: Free, as it has been since 1874.
Know before you go
- Check the diary before you set off - it is closed Sunday, Monday and bank holidays, exactly the days you most want a free indoor option.
- Ask at the desk about the holiday drop-in activities; they are free and save you inventing your own trail.
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What visitors say
★★★★★ 4.6 across 350 Google reviews.
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Corporation Park
Blackburn's showpiece Victorian park: a triumphal arch at the gate, two lakes with swans, a playground right beside them and a lime-tree avenue climbing the hill. Free, and less than a mile from the town centre.
Funtazia
24,000 square feet in the middle of Blackburn, with go karts, bumper cars and laser tag alongside the climbing frames. Not really soft play any more, more an indoor funfair.
Flip Out Blackburn
Trampolines, a ninja course and an inflatable obstacle run, with a foam-padded soft play area for the ones too small for all that. Shut on Tuesdays and Thursdays in term time.
Temple of Fun
Darwen's independent play centre with a sensory room, open five days a week in term time and every day in the holidays. Somewhere to sit that is not a plastic bench.
Sunnyhurst Wood
Eighty five acres of steep wooded valley on the edge of Darwen, with a brook, footbridges, carved wooden animals hidden along the paths and a 1912 tea kiosk that still sells ice cream. Free, and Green Flag rated.
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