Alexandra Park
Oldham's Victorian showpiece, 72 acres built by out-of-work cotton spinners. Lake, duck pond, cafe on the water, seven free tennis courts and a playground with a proper accessible section.
Dunwood Park
- Cost
- Free, free car park
- Ages
- 2 to 10
- Where
- Oldham, Greater Manchester
- Weather
- Mostly outdoors
- Booking
- Just turn up
Dunwood Park sits on Smallbrook Road in Shaw, with a car park inside the park and on-street parking round it. Oldham list a children's play area, three tennis courts and a bowling green, and that is more or less the whole story. It is a neat Edwardian-feeling local park, not a country park, and an hour is about right.
What lifts it above the other small parks on Oldham's list is the tram. Shaw and Crompton Metrolink is roughly 300 metres from the gates, and buses 181, 182 and 408 stop nearby. If you have a child who thinks trams are the best thing in the world, the journey does half the work and the playground does the rest.
What it costs: Free, with a free car park off Smallbrook Road. Toilets are inside the bowling pavilion and Oldham say they are only open when the gardeners are on site. No cafe is listed.
Know before you go
- Shaw and Crompton Metrolink is about 300 metres away. Doing the journey by tram turns a decent local park into an actual day out for a four year old.
- The only toilets are in the bowling pavilion and Oldham say they open when the gardeners are on site, which is not a schedule. Assume there are none.
Looking for more parks & outdoors near Oldham?
Sending it to the group chat?
What visitors say
★★★★★ 4.5 across 598 Google reviews.
Read all 598 reviews on Google - filter by star rating thereAlso in Oldham
Tandle Hill Country Park
Beech wood and open grass above Royton, with a play area, an orienteering course and a hilltop war memorial you can see Manchester from. The car park is at the entrance and the toilets are shut until further notice.
Chadderton Hall Park
The Chadderton park with the cafe, and therefore the toilets. Play area with a sand pit and accessible swings, free tennis, a river walk and ornamental gardens, all on a flat site with parking.
Daisy Nook Country Park
Canal, lake and woodland in the Medlock Valley between Failsworth and Ashton, with a cafe, toilets and a sandy play area by the car park. The short walk goes through a 'dark tunnel', which is the whole selling point for a four year old.
Dove Stone Reservoir (RSPB)
A reservoir walk on the edge of the Peak District above Greenfield: 2.5 miles round the water with moorland crags on every side. Free to walk, pay to park, and no cafe, so bring the flask.
Gallery Oldham
Oldham's free museum and gallery, now with Our Beautiful Oldham, a hands-on nature gallery built with local early years families. Two minutes from the tram, closed Sundays, Mondays and bank holidays.
What’s on near you, every Friday
One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.