Bolton Museum
A free town museum hiding one of Britain's best Egyptian collections, including a full recreation of Thutmose III's tomb, plus an aquarium in the basement. Genuinely free, genuinely good.
Smithills Open Farm
Bolton, Greater Manchester
A hands-on hill farm above Bolton where the itinerary is the animals: bottle-feeding sessions, donkey rides, a tractor-trailer tour and small-animal handling, with barns for the inevitable shower.
Feeding runs to a timetable - photograph the board on arrival and plan backwards from the sessions that matter most to your crew.
Know before you go
- Feeding sessions run to a timetable - check it on arrival and work backwards.
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Also in Bolton
Moss Bank Park
Bolton's big free family park: two decent playgrounds, a miniature railway, a seasonal funfair and The Hive, a Wildlife Trust nature-play garden that charges £2.50 a head and is worth it for under-sevens.
Queen's Park
Bolton's restored Victorian park: a proper playground with a mini zip line and a sand pit with a toy digger, a cafe with public toilets in sight of it, and the River Croal running through. Free, including the Spa Road car park.