Corporation Park
Blackburn's showpiece Victorian park: a triumphal arch at the gate, two lakes with swans, a playground right beside them and a lime-tree avenue climbing the hill. Free, and less than a mile from the town centre.
Witton Country Park
Blackburn, Lancashire
The largest green space in Blackburn, and it feels it: 480 acres of parkland, woodland and proper countryside a mile out of the town centre, with a Green Flag to its name. The flat parkland near the entrance does the picnic and ball-game work, and the wooded hillsides behind give you real walks when everyone needs marching.
It is a free day in the fullest sense - no entry charge and no parking charge, which is increasingly rare. The visitor centre sits in the Victorian stable block with toilets alongside, there are adventure play areas for the climbing years, picnic spots all over, and waymarked nature trails through the woods.
This is a run-around park rather than a destination with rides and queues. On a dry day that is exactly the point.
Know before you go
- The main entrance is off Preston Old Road, a mile from Blackburn town centre, with plenty of parking just inside the gates.
- There is a pets' corner by the stables but the animal pens are not reliably open, so do not promise the kids animals on the way there.
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Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery
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Funtazia
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Flip Out Blackburn
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Temple of Fun
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Sunnyhurst Wood
Eighty five acres of steep wooded valley on the edge of Darwen, with a brook, footbridges, carved wooden animals hidden along the paths and a 1912 tea kiosk that still sells ice cream. Free, and Green Flag rated.
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