
RHS Garden Bridgewater
One of the biggest garden projects in Europe, and more fun for kids than a flower garden has any right to be: a huge walled kitchen garden, lake walks, and space to run that feels endless.

Oxygen is the trampoline park upstairs in the Lowry Outlet at Salford Quays. Open Play is for 4 and over and covers interconnected trampolines, a giant airbag to jump into, an inflatable zone and dodgeball. Two extras need height: high ropes with six challenges for 1.20m and over, and the Sky Rider, an indoor zip ride, for 1.35m and over. Under-5s have their own mini trampoline area and soft play with a ball pit.
It is not cheap. An hour of Open Play is £15.95 a head, 90 minutes £20.45, two hours £24.95, all plus a £1.50 booking fee, and walk-in prices are higher. The way round it is the £10 hour on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons in term time. Toddler sessions run on weekday mornings in term time and are £13.95 for a parent and toddler, then £6.95 for each extra.
Term-time Open Play is 12.30pm to 1.30pm and then from 3.30pm on weekdays, with longer hours at weekends and in the holidays. SEN Peaceful Play, with the music and lights turned down and fewer people, runs on Wednesday and Sunday evenings for £9.95 with a carer included. Parking is the bonus: four hours free in the Quayside car park if you register at the screens.
What it costs: Open Play (4 and over) £15.95 for 60 minutes, £20.45 for 90, £24.95 for 120. £10 for 60 minutes on Tue, Wed and Thu afternoons in term time. Toddler Play (0 to 5) and Family Play: parent and toddler £13.95, extra adult or toddler £6.95. SEN Peaceful Play £9.95 including a carer, Wed and Sun 5pm to 7pm. After-School Fun and Feast £15.95 with a kids meal and slush. £1.50 booking fee online; walk-in prices are higher.
Worth knowing: Open Play 4+; high ropes 1.20m+, Sky Rider 1.35m+.
Looking for more soft play & indoor play near Salford?
Sending it to the group chat?
★★★★★ 4.4 across 567 Google reviews.
Read all 567 reviews on Google - filter by star rating there
One of the biggest garden projects in Europe, and more fun for kids than a flower garden has any right to be: a huge walled kitchen garden, lake walks, and space to run that feels endless.

Free galleries holding the world's largest LS Lowry collection, a free immersive 360 room, and theatres with a steady run of family shows. One of the easiest rainy-day wins on the Quays.

A Grade I listed Tudor manor house marooned among Salford's new-builds, free to walk round, with a proper Great Hall, gardens and school-holiday craft sessions. Closed Fridays and Saturdays, which catches people out.

Free, small and genuinely good: Lark Hill Place, a full Victorian street rebuilt indoors, is the bit the kids will remember. Peel Park is right outside for the run-around afterwards.

48 hectares on the River Irwell with a lake, a play area, a climbing boulder and a cafe open every day. Trails are marked for distance and for accessibility, so you know before you set off with a buggy.

A Green Flag nature reserve wrapped round an old reservoir at Walkden, with a permanent orienteering course that turns a lap of the lake into a treasure hunt. No playground, no cafe, nothing to pay.
One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.