Astley Hall & Park
A startling glass-fronted Tudor hall, free to visit, in a free park with the Royalists' Retreat play area, a walled garden and Cafe Ambio. Chorley's pride, and rightly so.
Yarrow Valley Country Park
- Cost
- Free - pay to park at Birkacre
- Ages
- 3 to 11
- Where
- Chorley, Lancashire
- Weather
- Mostly outdoors
- Booking
- Just turn up
Chorley Council's 700 acre valley along the River Yarrow, Green Flagged since 2004, and the rare country park where the good bits cluster in one place. The Birkacre end has the lodge with its ducks, the Treeface cafe, an information centre, toilets with baby change, and the play area, all a flat pram-push from the car park.
Yarrow Rocks is the draw for the school-age kids: rope swings, climbing walls, slides and a sandbox, deliberately built so children can challenge themselves rather than be padded out of trouble. Younger ones need watching on some of it. Beyond that, four colour-coded walking trails head off into the woods, and duck bread never goes to waste at the lodge.
Only the main Birkacre car park charges, 8am to 5pm. If you object on principle, the Duxbury, Euxton and Dob Brow car parks are free, at the cost of a longer walk to the cafe.
What it costs: Entry is free. The main Birkacre car park is pay and display 8am-5pm; the smaller Duxbury, Euxton and Dob Brow car parks are free.
Know before you go
- Start at Birkacre - the cafe, information centre, toilets, lodge and play area are all there, so short legs never get far from base.
- The Treeface cafe usually runs 10am till 4pm but check their Facebook page before relying on it for lunch.
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What visitors say
★★★★★ 4.7 across 2,543 Google reviews.
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Also in Chorley
Rivington Terraced Gardens & Great House Barn
Lord Leverhulme's lost hillside gardens: ruined terraces, tunnels and archways, ornamental lakes and the Pigeon Tower on the skyline, all free and never shut. Brilliant for kids who like exploring, hopeless with a pushchair.
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