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.
Boggart Hole Clough
Manchester, Greater Manchester
The name does half the work. A boggart is a Lancashire mischief spirit, and this park is supposed to have one. What it certainly has is a big stretch of old woodland cut through by steep cloughs, a lake, a children's play area and a lakeside cafe.
It is free and open dawn to dusk. Do the woods first while legs are fresh, then finish at the lake and the playground. The cafe opens most days but not to fixed hours, so pack a snack. The paths in the cloughs are proper paths with proper slopes, which is the fun of it. Blackley is off the usual route from the south, but for a free half day it has more wild in it than any other park in the city.
What it costs: Free, open dawn to dusk. Lakeside Cafe open most days, hours vary (0161 740 7985).
Know before you go
- Ring the Lakeside Cafe on 0161 740 7985 before relying on it; the Friends group says hours vary.
- The cloughs are steep-sided valleys, so wellies beat trainers after rain and a pushchair will struggle off the main paths.
- Tell them about the boggart before you set off. It makes the woods twice as long.
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