Brockholes Nature Reserve
A nature reserve with a visitor village that floats on the lake - genuinely floats. Easy flat trails, hides, a good playground and free family crafts through the summer holidays.
Cuerden Valley Park
Preston, Lancashire
A 650-acre valley park squeezed between the M6 and the M65 and somehow still a secret outside South Ribble: woodland, wildflower meadows, a lake, a walled orchard and the River Lostock running shallow enough through it that children treat it as the main event. It draws over 260,000 visits a year, mostly from people who live within three miles.
The Berkeley Drive entrance has the eco-built visitor centre and the Cuerden View cafe, and it is the right start with small children: flat paths, the orchard, the river dip, ice cream on the way back. Older ones get proper distance, with valley and woodland routes that swallow an afternoon.
It is free and open around the clock; the trust that runs it makes its money from the car parks, which charge day and night. Think of the £2.50 as the entry fee for one of Lancashire's best free days and it feels cheap.
Know before you go
- Park at Berkeley Drive off the A49 for the visitor centre, cafe and the flattest pushchair loop.
- The river is the attraction on a hot day: shallow, gravelly and made for wellies. Bring the towel you think you will not need.
Looking for more parks & outdoors near Preston?
Also in Preston
The Harris
Preston's museum, gallery and library reopened in September 2025 after a £19m rebuild, and it is still free. A proper children's library, changing exhibitions and a cafe under one Grade I listed roof on the Flag Market.
Ribble Steam Railway & Museum
Steam trains along Preston's dockside with a museum shed full of engines, a playground and a tea room all on one ticket that covers all-day travel. A Saturday railway, so check the calendar before you promise anyone a train.
Avenham & Miller Parks
Two Victorian parks joined at the hip beside the Ribble: a Japanese rock garden, a riverside cafe, a playground sited between the two, and the Easter egg rolling hill. Preston's best free afternoon.
Wild Discovery
The small zoo inside Ribby Hall Village, open to anyone and not just people staying there. Meerkats, otters, wallabies, porcupines and an exotic house, done in an easy couple of hours.
Rascals Play Centre
Preston's big indoor centre at Bamber Bridge, minutes off the M6, with a sports court, a disco room and a quieter SEN session on Tuesday evenings.