Bowland Country Park
Wild boar, deer and llamas in a Forest of Bowland valley, with animal feeding, an adventure play area, go-karts and river walks. Small, unslick and all the better for it.
Edisford Bridge
- Cost
- Free, pay and display parking
- Ages
- 1 to 11
- Where
- Clitheroe & Ribble Valley, Lancashire
- Weather
- Mostly outdoors
- Booking
- Just turn up
Ribble Valley has been building a new £300,000 play park here, on the old pitch and putt site, with 150 play features for 2 to 14s including a 20 metre zip wire, the HMS Edisford play boat and a Pendle Hill tower of slides and nets. The council said it would be finished by September 2026, so check before you promise it.
The river is the better half anyway. Edisford Bridge is where Clitheroe goes when the sun comes out, because the Ribble widens and slows here and at low water a gently sloping shingle beach appears. That means paddling, skimming stones and one child who goes in fully dressed within ten minutes. Ribble Valley Borough Council looks after the site and it costs nothing to use.
On dry land there is picnic space on the banks and the Ribble Valley Live Steamers running a miniature railway at set weekend times. An ice cream van usually finds its way there in summer. The Changing Places toilet is a genuinely useful piece of kit for a riverside site, with hoists, an adult sized changing bench, a shower and privacy screens, available 24 hours a day to anyone with a Radar key.
Two parking notes. The main Edisford Road car park is short stay pay and display with 233 spaces. The disabled bays on the riverbank itself need a security card from The Platform Gallery in town, released against a £20 refundable deposit, which makes it a job for the day before.
What it costs: Free to visit. Ribble Valley Borough Council's Edisford Road car park is pay and display and the tariff is not published on the park page. The Changing Places toilet needs a Radar key. The riverside blue badge car park needs a security card from The Platform Gallery in Clitheroe with a £20 refundable deposit.
Know before you go
- Ribble Valley's new £300,000 play park, with a 20 metre zip wire and a play boat, was due to be finished in September 2026. Check it is open before promising it; the river is the sure thing.
- When the river is low a shingle beach appears and the paddling is the main event. Take old trainers, because the stones are unkind to bare feet.
- The miniature railway only runs at set times at weekends, so do not promise it on a Tuesday in term time.
Seasonal: New play park due to be finished in September 2026. Check before travelling.
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