Norton Priory
The most excavated monastic site in Europe, with a medieval undercroft, a giant statue of St Christopher and a walled garden that does apple days and bug hunts. Close, cheap and quietly excellent.
Runcorn Ski Centre
Runcorn, Cheshire
The slope sits in the corner of Town Park at Palace Fields and has quietly been teaching Halton children to ski for decades. Group lessons start from £28 and include skis, boots and a helmet. Four hour courses are from £85. Private lessons, ski or snowboard, are from £45.
Snowboarding is taught privately only, and you need to be 1.4m tall with an adult size 4 foot before they will let you on a board at all. The ski age rules take reading too. Group lessons want a child who is seven, at least 1.1m tall and in a child shoe size 10 or bigger. Younger than that and they can still learn, but only in a private lesson, from age five. Under fives are out entirely.
Tubing is the one to book if nobody wants a lesson. You sit in a big rubber ring and slide down. £45 for the family for 30 minutes, Easter until October.
The dress code is enforced: long trousers, long socks, arms and legs covered, no leggings, gloves strongly advised. Booking is compulsory and has to be done by phone, and you get a full refund only if you cancel within 24 hours of booking. The miniature railway runs on the same site, so a tubing session and a train ride makes a decent afternoon.
Know before you go
- Leggings and tights are banned on the dry slope and they will turn you away with no refund. Long trousers and long socks, football socks are fine, and bring gloves because the matting takes the skin off your hands.
- You cannot book online. The office answers roughly noon to 7pm on weekdays and 11am to 4pm at weekends, so ring inside that window instead of emailing and hoping.
- Tubing is the low commitment option: £45 for half an hour for the whole family, no lesson required. It runs Easter to October only, so it answers a summer holiday and not a February one.
- You get a full refund only if you cancel within 24 hours of booking, which is a narrower window than most places and worth knowing when you pick a date.
Worth knowing: Group ski lessons need age 7, a child shoe size 10 or above and a height of at least 1.1m. Private lessons take children from 5. Snowboarding needs 1.4m and adult shoe size 4.
Seasonal: Tubing runs Easter until October. Check before travelling.
Looking for more adventure & rides near Runcorn?
Also in Runcorn
Halton Miniature Railway
Seven and a quarter inch gauge, a loop of nearly a mile through Runcorn Town Park, a ride of about ten minutes and no charge. It has run since 1979, and only when a volunteer turns up to drive.
Wigg Island Community Park
Fifty seven acres of nature reserve wedged between the Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal at Astmoor. Flat paths, water on both sides, a lot of birds. Nothing to climb on.