Astbury Mere Country Park
A flooded sand quarry ten minutes' walk from Congleton town centre, now fourteen hectares of water, woodland and wildflower meadow with a flat mile long path round it. There is no playground.
Congleton Park
Congleton, Cheshire
The reason to come in July is the paddling pool. It is free. It is outdoors. It is designed for under elevens, there is a paddling pool attendant on duty at all times, and there are toilets right there. The season runs from the Saturday before the late May bank holiday to the second Sunday in September, weather permitting, and the daily pattern is 10am to 1pm, closed for an hour, then 2pm to 5pm. In genuinely hot weather they cap it at 140 people and run one in, one out.
The rest of the park has been doing its job since 1871. Twenty four and a half acres just north of the town centre: a bandstand, ornamental lawns, a bowling green, paths up into the ancient Town Woods, and a Green Flag award count that had reached twelve by 2019. The children's play area had a £100,000 rebuild and covers both toddlers and older children.
Food is sorted on site by the Taste for Life cafe, open 9am to 4pm daily, with the Jubilee Pavilion also doing refreshments. Parking is free on site but there are only a handful of spaces, and the paddling pool page is blunt that the surrounding streets are resident parking, so the Fairground car park on Market Street is where most people end up.
Know before you go
- The paddling pool runs 10am to 1pm, shuts for an hour, then reopens 2pm to 5pm. Arrive at 1.15pm on a hot day and you spend forty-five minutes sitting on the grass looking at an empty pool.
- It is for under elevens, every child must have an adult with them, and above 140 visitors they operate one in, one out. Go early in a heatwave.
- On site parking is free but there is not much of it. Fairground Car Park on Market Street, CW12 1BP, is the sensible plan B.
- The cafe closes at 4pm while the pool runs to 5pm, so get the ice creams in first.
Seasonal: Paddling pool late May to early September. Check before travelling.
Looking for more parks & outdoors near Congleton?
Also in Congleton
Brereton Heath Local Nature Reserve
Fifty odd acres of birch and oak wrapped round a fifteen acre lake, out between Congleton and Holmes Chapel. Give the children the permanent orienteering map and it stops being a walk.