Chester Zoo
Excellent, but it is a lot of walking. Reviews rate 5 to 10 as the ideal age and still recommend a pushchair at four. Climbing frames, water play and sand pits break up the distance.
RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands
- Cost
- £7 adults, £3.50 a child, first child free
- Ages
- 3 to 11
- Where
- Chester, Cheshire
- Weather
- Mostly outdoors
- Booking
- Just turn up
The Dee estuary reserve on the Wirral side of Chester, and it is much more of a family place than the RSPB name suggests. There is a Wild Play area given over to den building, backpacks of kit to hire, and five trails ranging from a 500 yard stroll to a proper walk.
Pricing is unusually kind: seven pounds an adult, £3.50 a child with the first one free, under-5s always free, and the car park costs nothing. A family of four is under £11 for as long as you want to stay. RSPB members pay nothing at all.
Come in spring for the noise. Avocets, lapwings and black-headed gulls all nest on the scrapes and the racket from the hides is the sort of thing children remember longer than the birds themselves.
What it costs: Adults £7, children 5 to 17 £3.50 with the first child free, 16 to 24 year olds free, students £5, under 5s free, carers free, RSPB members free. No parking charge is listed.
Know before you go
- Hire an Explorer Backpack at the centre. It is the difference between a bird reserve and an afternoon of hunting minibeasts, and it is what makes this work for children who do not care about birds.
- The Burton Mere and Reedbed trails are level compact gravel and fine with a pushchair. Farm and Fen has a proper incline, so pick your trail before you set off rather than halfway round.
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What visitors say
★★★★★ 4.7 across 1,097 Google reviews.
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