East Lancashire Railway
Real steam trains between Bury, Ramsbottom and Rawtenstall, with themed family days all summer - Peppa Pig, fairytale specials, the lot. The day rover means you can hop off for lunch and catch the next one back.
Funtastic Play Centre
Bury, Greater Manchester
Radcliffe again, five minutes from Jungle Mayhem, and between them they give Bury a genuinely good pair. Funtastic is the older of the two: a multi-tier frame with slides, tunnels, ramps and a trampoline, and a separate baby and toddler section with its own slide, rope bridge and ball pool.
The pricing policy is the thing worth repeating. Entry is £5.50 on weekdays and they do not put it up at weekends or in the holidays, which is the exact opposite of how this industry normally works. Open 9.30am to 6pm in the week and from 9am at weekends.
The cafe does home-cooked food rather than reheated trays. Height, not age, is the limit for the frame, so measure a tall child before you promise anything.
What it costs: £5.50 on weekdays for 0 to 11 year olds, who must be under 148cm. Prices do not rise at weekends or in the school holidays.
Know before you go
- No peak pricing. In August that quietly makes it one of the cheapest days out in Greater Manchester.
- There is a 148cm height limit rather than a hard age cut-off, which catches out tall nine-year-olds.
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What visitors say
★★★★★ 4.2 across 320 Google reviews.
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Burrs Country Park
Riverside country park on the Irwell with a playground, old mill remains and its own East Lancashire Railway station, so a heritage steam train can be part of the day rather than the whole of it.
Bury Transport Museum
A restored 1848 railway goods warehouse filled with buses, trams and hands-on exhibits, two minutes from the East Lancashire Railway's Bolton Street station. Weekend opening, and the natural rainy-day half of a steam train day.
Imagination Bay Adventure Play
Beach-themed play in a converted mill: indoor sand, role play, a craft corner and a dance floor rather than the usual three-storey frame. Timed two-hour sessions and no walk-ins.
Little Luxe Soft Play
A small independent built around inclusive play, with a multi-sensory calming room off the main floor. The one to try if a big noisy centre has gone badly before.
Jungle Mayhem
Radcliffe's jungle-themed centre: a four-lane slide, a ball pool with suction tubes, a sports zone and a disco room. Adults get in for nothing, which is rarer than it should be.
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