Smithills Open Farm
A proper hands-on farm day: bottle feeding, donkey rides, a tractor trailer tour and small animal handling, with enough under cover to survive drizzle. Built for the under-9s.
Jumbles Country Park
Bolton, Greater Manchester
Jumbles opened in 1971 and United Utilities looks after it as one of its reservoir sites. The walk is the whole offer: a circular route round the water, mostly flat, a few short climbs, with woodland on one side and open valley on the other. United Utilities says pushchairs and wheelchairs are suitable for the reservoir itself, and that holds for the main loop. It does not hold for the paths that climb away from it.
The cafe sits next to the Waterfold car park on Bradshaw Road and does hot and cold food made to order, with breakfast served from 10.30am on weekdays and 10am at weekends. A sailing club uses the water and an angling club holds the fishing rights, and United Utilities runs occasional dam tours, which is the one to remember if you have a child who likes engineering more than ducks. Two car parks serve the site, Waterfold at BL2 4JS and Entwistle at BL7 0LU further up the valley. Bromley Cross station is within walking distance if you would rather not drive at all. Nothing here costs money, which makes the 10.30am car park opening easier to forgive.
Know before you go
- Waterfold car park opens at 10.30am and shuts at 4.30pm. Turn up for an early start and you will be parking on the road. That is the single most common Jumbles mistake.
- The cafe runs 10.30am to 4.15pm with breakfasts served in the first ninety minutes, so do the loop first and eat second: the queue builds by midday at weekends. The circuit is flat with a couple of short climbs and holds a pushchair fine, but there is nothing to play on, so if your children need equipment go to Moses Gate instead.
Looking for more parks & outdoors near Bolton?
Also in Bolton
Bolton Museum
A free town museum hiding one of Britain's best Egyptian collections, including a full recreation of Thutmose III's tomb, plus an aquarium in the basement. Genuinely free, genuinely good.
Moss Bank Park
Bolton's big free family park: two decent playgrounds, a miniature railway, a seasonal funfair and The Hive, a Wildlife Trust nature-play garden that charges £2.50 a head and is worth it for under-sevens.
Queen's Park
Bolton's restored Victorian park: a proper playground with a mini zip line and a sand pit with a toy digger, a cafe with public toilets in sight of it, and the River Croal running through. Free, including the Spa Road car park.
Playtopia
Bolton's biggest recent soft play opening, with a sports court and a gym room alongside the frame. Adults are a pound, which is the number that decides where you go on a wet Tuesday.
Party and Play Funhouse
An independent at Westhoughton with an outdoor play area as well as the indoor frame, go karts on top, and a baby sensory room for the under ones. Free parking.