West Park
One of Britain's oldest public parks, opened in 1854 and part-paid for by Macclesfield's own workers: playground, toddler area, skatepark, gardens and a daily cafe. The little museum on the park edge is currently closed.
Tegg's Nose Country Park
Macclesfield, Cheshire
A gritstone hill on the western edge of the Peak District, ten minutes above Macclesfield, with a view from the top that stops conversations: the Cheshire Plain laid out below, and Liverpool's cathedrals and the Welsh hills on a clear day. Entry costs nothing. You pay for the pay and display car park and whatever The Nose Coffee takes off you on the way back down.
The summit loop from the car park is short enough for primary legs but proper walking, steep and rocky in places and wrong for buggies. The preserved quarry machinery part way round is reliably the children's favourite bit - crushers and saws left over from when this hill was being cut up for stone. Toilets with baby change sit by the visitor centre, and the coffee shop opens daily from 9am.
Cheshire East's rangers run family events here through the year, Halloween trails and December elf hunts included, and there is a downloadable geology trail if yours are the fact-collecting sort. Sheep graze the slopes, so dogs stay on leads.
Know before you go
- Boots or wellies, not trainers - the paths are rocky and it is noticeably windier at the top than in the car park.
- The Nose Coffee opens at 9am every day, so an early start earns a bacon roll before the climb rather than after.
Worth knowing: Best from about five up - steep, rocky paths.
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