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.
Queen's Park
Bolton, Greater Manchester
A 22-acre Victorian park on the edge of Bolton town centre with a Green Flag and, more to the point, one of the better free playgrounds in the borough: swings, climbing frames, a miniature zip line and a sand area with a JCB digger toy that generates queues. It sits at the Spa Road end, over a small bridge across the River Croal from the free car park.
The cafe is within sight of the playground and has the public toilets, which is exactly where you want both. It does proper hot food, jacket potatoes and full breakfasts rather than just flapjack, plus ice creams. Expect the playground to be heaving on sunny weekends and bank holidays; term-time mornings are the quiet shift.
When the swings wear thin there is the promenade lined with stone statues, a sunken ornamental garden, an outdoor gym and the riverside walk. The junior parkrun on Sundays is a fixture.
What it costs: Everything is free, including parking on Spa Road, though the car park is time limited.
Know before you go
- Park on Spa Road: the playground is just over the little bridge from the car park, so you are on the swings within two minutes of arriving.
- A junior parkrun sets off on Sunday mornings if you have a runner in the family.
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Bolton Museum
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That Fun Place at Jump Xtreme
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