Chester Zoo
Excellent, but it is a lot of walking. Reviews rate 5 to 10 as the ideal age and still recommend a pushchair at four. Climbing frames, water play and sand pits break up the distance.
Chester City Walls
Chester, Cheshire
Chester is the only British city with a complete circuit of its ancient walls, about two miles (3km) of red sandstone round the centre, parts of it nearly 2,000 years old. You can join at any of the four main gates, Northgate, Eastgate, Watergate and Bridgegate, or at the many sets of steps in between, and walk as much or as little as legs allow.
The free Walls Trail guide turns it into a history lesson with good bits for children: the walls began as the defences of the Roman fortress of Deva, the Saxon queen Aethelflaed refortified the town in the 10th century, the Normans pushed the walls west and south, and the East Gate was once where severed heads went on display as a warning. By the 18th century the whole thing had become a fashionable promenade, which is roughly how it is used now.
Do a section rather than the full loop with under fives, come down at the Eastgate for the Rows, and pair it with the Roman Amphitheatre just outside the walls.
What it costs: Free. The Walls Trail guide is a free download, or £1 printed from the Chester Visitor Information Centre.
Know before you go
- Steps are the usual way on and off, with ramps at only some points, so a sling or a sturdy walker beats a pushchair.
- When we checked, the Northgate steps were open only to walkers heading clockwise towards King Charles Tower; anticlockwise walkers were diverted down the steps to Morgan's Mount.
- Sections close now and then for sandstone repairs, so be ready to drop down and rejoin.
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★★★★★ 4.7 across 2,324 Google reviews.
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