Burnley, Lancashire
The Singing Ringing Tree is a swirl of galvanised steel pipes on Crown Point, high above Burnley, that catches the wind and produces a low, eerie hum. Kids either find it magical or mildly spooky, and both reactions are correct. Press an ear to the pipes on a still day and it still murmurs. The view takes in the town, Pendle Hill and, when it is clear, the Bowland fells.
Park at the Crown Point car park on Crown Point Road and it is a five to ten minute walk on a compacted gravel path that gets muddy after rain and slopes on the way to the tree. Free, always open, and honestly a twenty minute visit once you are up there. Be straight with everyone about that before you set off.
Longer circular walks link it to Clowbridge Reservoir and Towneley Hall if you want to earn lunch, and Towneley's park makes the obvious second half of a Burnley day.
Looking for more parks & outdoors near Burnley?
The hall is back open after its £3.6m restoration, but the park was always the real family day: playgrounds, gardens, woodland trails and a cafe right by the play area. Park free, parking cheap, and kids get into the hall for nothing.
Burnley's restored Edwardian park does the full seaside-without-the-sea turn: rowing boats, a paddling pool, a volunteer-run miniature railway and a boathouse cafe. Time it for a sunny weekend when everything is actually running.