Lyme sits where Cheshire runs out and the Peak District starts, and it feels like it: moorland light, red deer moving between the trees, and a great stone house looking down the valley. The Crow Wood playscape gives younger kids climbing, slides and a lookout tower in the woods, and the wider estate soaks up as much walking as your family can hold.
Mr Darcy climbed out of this lake in 1995, which is worth precisely one photo stop before the kids drag you back to the adventure playground. Take the mile-long lakeside loop if the little ones are flagging; take the Cage hill climb if they are not.
What it costs: Park and Garden ticket (estate, formal garden, cafes, shops and car park): adult £9, child 5 to 17 £4.50, under 5s free, family of two adults and up to three children £22.50; with Gift Aid £9.90, £5 and £24.80. House, Park and Garden ticket: adult £19, child £9.50, family £47.50 (£20.90, £10.50 and £52.30 with Gift Aid). Tickets are bought at the admissions hut on arrival and cannot be pre-booked. National Trust members free. Arrive by train with a same-day ticket and park and garden entry is free.
An interactive outdoor art installation for half term: step through a series of mysterious doorways to find local folklore, old traditions and ghost stories. The listing gives no separate price, so assume normal Lyme admission until the National Trust says otherwise.
The house is dressed room by room in Christmas traditions from around the world, made by Handmade Theatre. The car parks shrink when it is wet. A bus or train ticket gets you into the park and garden free, but not the house, so you still pay for this bit.
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A labyrinth of tunnels carved under the town centre that sheltered thousands in the Blitz, explored with a self-guided audio tour. Atmospheric in the best way for 7-and-ups.
A proper small farm park tucked into the Tame valley on Stockport's edge: cows, goats, shire horses and alpacas, zip wires outside and a play area under cover for when it rains. Book online, the gate price is higher.
A big lake crowded with waterfowl, a flat path alongside it and a cafe where you left the car: the easiest small-child walk in the Stockport area. Entry is free, the car park is not.
A black and white Tudor manor house sitting in around 60 acres of parkland with woods, brooks and lakes. The park costs nothing, under 16s go into the hall free, and all-day parking is £4.
The UK's only museum of hats and hatting, back open after a four-year refurbishment. The galleries are free and you can try hats on; the Victorian factory floor is an £8.50 guided tour on selected dates. An hour well spent, not a full day.
Stockport's oldest town house, done out as a hands-on walk from the 15th century to the 20th and named after a rare Jacobean cage newel staircase. An hour does it.
One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.