East Lancashire Railway
Real steam trains between Bury, Ramsbottom and Rawtenstall, with themed family days all summer - Peppa Pig, fairytale specials, the lot. The day rover means you can hop off for lunch and catch the next one back.
Clarence Park
Bury, Greater Manchester
Clarence Park opened in 1888 and is still the largest urban park Bury runs, twenty hectares in Moorside about a mile out of the town centre. It has held a Green Flag since 2005, which in practice means the paths are kept up and the grass gets cut, and the council describes it as level throughout and fine for pushchairs and wheelchairs. That is a real advantage over half the parks round here.
The facilities list is genuinely long: children's play area, two tennis courts, two bowling greens, a football pitch, a bandstand, and the Green Cafe and Community Centre on site so you are not hunting for a coffee. The other half of the site is Clarence Lido, a lake with formal seating round it, a model boat club and angling. Feeding the ducks and watching grown men sail radio-controlled boats will hold a small child for longer than you expect.
The newest thing is the wheeled sports park, a 180,000 pound concrete build with manual pads, flat bars, ledges, jump boxes and quarterpipes. Bury opened it in March 2024 and designed it with local skaters and the Friends of Clarence Park to suit a range of ages and abilities. There is also a parkrun here on Saturday mornings, so expect the paths to be busy early.
Know before you go
- Park at the Lido end off Milner Avenue. Walmersley Road is the front door but the council only lists a car park at the lake.
- The skate park is concrete, not a couple of ramps, and Bury designed it with the Friends group for a wide age range. Scooters and roller skates count, so a six year old is not out of place.
- Chesham Woods nature reserve backs straight onto the park. If the playground gets old after forty minutes, walk into the trees instead of driving home.
Looking for more parks & outdoors near Bury?
Also in Bury
Burrs Country Park
Riverside country park on the Irwell with a playground, old mill remains and its own East Lancashire Railway station, so a heritage steam train can be part of the day rather than the whole of it.
Bury Transport Museum
A restored 1848 railway goods warehouse filled with buses, trams and hands-on exhibits, two minutes from the East Lancashire Railway's Bolton Street station. Weekend opening, and the natural rainy-day half of a steam train day.
Imagination Bay Adventure Play
Beach-themed play in a converted mill: indoor sand, role play, a craft corner and a dance floor rather than the usual three-storey frame. Timed two-hour sessions and no walk-ins.
Little Luxe Soft Play
A small independent built around inclusive play, with a multi-sensory calming room off the main floor. The one to try if a big noisy centre has gone badly before.
Jungle Mayhem
Radcliffe's jungle-themed centre: a four-lane slide, a ball pool with suction tubes, a sports zone and a disco room. Adults get in for nothing, which is rarer than it should be.