A proper Victorian park with a lake at its heart - rowing boats in summer, ducks year-round - plus woodland walks and a solid playground.
It is St Helens' reliable free afternoon, and the boathouse cafe means nobody has to pack a flask unless they want to.
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★★★★★ 4.5 across 1,753 Google reviews.
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Free to get in and better than it sounds: hands-on stations on glass, lenses and fibre optics, a Victorian street and the old Tank House, with live glassblowing around midday and 2pm for a small extra charge. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
St Helens' biggest park. Play areas, open space and a walled garden, and it costs nothing.
A 20-metre white head rising out of a reclaimed colliery, with woodland trails around it. Genuinely strange and memorable for kids, and a short walk rather than a hike.
A green corridor of canal towpath and parkland running from St Helens down towards Warrington. Flat, traffic-free and ideal if the bikes or scooters are coming.
Funded holiday clubs with food included, ages 4 to 18, for families on benefits-related free school meals. Worth a look even if you assume you won't qualify.
The soft play inside St Helens' bowling alley: a main frame for 4 to 12s with a giant slide and aerial gliders, a gated toddler frame, and bowling and an arcade on the other side of the wall for when the older one gets bored.
One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.