Alexandra Park
Oldham's Victorian showpiece, 72 acres built by out-of-work cotton spinners. Lake, duck pond, cafe on the water, seven free tennis courts and a playground with a proper accessible section.
Chadderton Hall Park
- Cost
- Free, free parking
- Ages
- 1 to 10
- Where
- Oldham, Greater Manchester
- Weather
- Mostly outdoors
- Booking
- Just turn up
Chadderton Hall Park is on Burnley Lane, off Chadderton Hall Road, and it is the sort of park that covers the basics properly: play equipment with a sand pit and accessible kit including basket and cradle swings, a cafe, toilets, picnic benches, playing fields and three free tennis courts, two full size and one junior. There is parking on site and the Freehold Metrolink stop is the nearest tram.
Beyond the play area there are woodland and river walks, ornamental gardens and water features, which is more than you would guess from the road. The hall itself is long gone, though the site once kept a private menagerie, and Oldham's page cheerfully mentions elephant bones turning up. Tell a child that on the way in and you have bought yourself an extra twenty minutes of interest.
What it costs: Free, with free parking on site. Tennis courts are free to use. Toilets open only when the cafe is open.
Know before you go
- Toilets are only open when the cafe is. That is the deciding fact on a wet Tuesday in February, so do not count on them on a quiet weekday.
- Three tennis courts, free, one of them junior sized. Junior courts are rare and make a genuine difference to whether a seven year old enjoys it or gives up.
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What visitors say
★★★★★ 4.6 across 1,886 Google reviews.
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