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
Oldham, Greater Manchester
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.
Know before you go
- Toilets are only open when the cafe is. That is the deciding fact on a wet Tuesday in February, so ring 0161 770 4056 before you commit.
- 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.
Looking for more parks & outdoors near Oldham?
Also in Oldham
Tandle Hill Country Park
110 acres of beech wood and open grass above Royton, with a play area, an orienteering course and a hilltop war memorial you can see Manchester from. Free car park, small.
Dunwood Park
Small, tidy and 300 metres from a tram stop, which makes Dunwood the one you can do without a car. Playground, three tennis courts, a bowling green and free parking if you do drive.