
Sherdley Park
St Helens' biggest park. Play areas, open space and a walled garden, and it costs nothing.

Better than it sounds, and free to get in: hands-on stations on natural glass, lenses and fibre optics, a Victorian street, and the story of the town that made the world's windows, told around the old Tank House.
The live glassblowing is the one thing you pay for, £5 for adults and £3.50 for children, and it is worth it: watching molten glass become a vase is the moment that sticks. Demos usually run around midday and 2pm. An honest wet-morning winner, as long as the wet morning is not a Monday or a Tuesday, when it is shut.
What it costs: Entry to the museum and Tank House is free. The live glassblowing demonstration is the one paid part: £5 adults, £3.50 children. Open Wednesday to Sunday and bank holidays, 10am to 4pm; closed Mondays and Tuesdays. The car park is paid, free for 10 minutes and up to £5 for 12 hours.
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St Helens' biggest park. Play areas, open space and a walled garden, and it costs nothing.

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One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.