Crosby, Merseyside
A hundred cast-iron men stand in the sand and stare at the sea - Antony Gormley's Another Place, and the strangest free afternoon on any coast. Children treat the statues as a population to be interviewed.
The safety rule is absolute: stay between the beach entrances and off the mud beyond the statues. The tide moves faster than a child can. Inside that rule, it is sandcastles with a art installation attached.
Looking for more water & swimming near Crosby?
★★★★★ 4.7 across 1,862 Google reviews.
Read all 1,862 reviews on Google - filter by star rating there
Sefton's watersports centre on Crosby Marine Lake, with pay and play paddle sessions in season and the Gormley iron men on the beach over the road. More of a booked-session place than a turn-up attraction, so plan before you drive.
Two pools a hundred yards from the beach, the smaller one shallow enough for a child who is still learning. On Tuesdays the main pool gets Atlantis Splash, a full length inflatable obstacle course.
One of Sefton's seven Green Flag parks, in the middle of Crosby, with a play area, tennis courts and a model boating lake. Small, well kept, free, and about as low effort as a Saturday morning gets.
A long country park running south from Crosby between the Leeds and Liverpool canal and the railway: paths, meadows, reedbeds and the Brookvale nature reserve with its boardwalks. Free, open, no charge to park.
Waterloo's big multi-use park, with a skate park tucked in the corner by the railway line and sport pitches across the rest. Sefton list play facilities too, but check before you promise a playground.
One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.