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.
Wigg Island Community Park
Runcorn, Cheshire
The past here is chemical, not pastoral. Halton opened this strip of land between the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal as a community park in 2002, it became a local nature reserve in 2004, and it now runs to 57 acres with a Green Flag award to its name. Halton Borough Council lists it among its parks and publishes an accessibility guide for it. What you get is space and water. Paths run out towards the confluence with the ship canal, the birdlife is the main draw for anyone who cares about that sort of thing, and the views take in the Runcorn bridges and a working waterway. On a weekday morning you can walk the whole thing and meet three dog walkers.
There is no play equipment, no cafe and no reliable toilet. That works for a child who is happy walking and looking, and badly for one who needs equipment. Parking is free at the entrance off Astmoor Road. If you want a fuller day, Norton Priory is ten minutes away, and Runcorn Town Park with its free playground and miniature railway is not much further.
Know before you go
- Bring binoculars and low expectations about facilities. There is no play equipment, no cafe, and a visitor centre whose opening depends on volunteers, so sort the toilet stop in Runcorn first. Two hours of walking is about the ceiling for most primary aged children here, and Norton Priory is ten minutes away if you need a second stop.
Looking for more parks & outdoors near Runcorn?
Also in Runcorn
Runcorn Ski Centre
The dry ski slope in the corner of Runcorn's Town Park, running group and private ski lessons, snowboard lessons and family tubing. Leggings will get you turned away at the door. Long trousers, long socks.
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.