I was very surprised by how large this park is. I entered near the bike shop and had a lovely…read morewander through pat of the park. Gorgeous trees, plenty of wide spaces. Lots of clean trails that seem well maintained, a few benches to sit and read. I had planned to just do a quick stroll, but will have to come back to do it all as it was larger than I had expected.

This is a lovely little park in Trafford between Urmston and Flixton and has a minature steam…read morerailway that is run by a small group of dedicated steam engine enthuastics and cost 20p for a ride around the park. It runs on sunday and is really popular with parents with children. There is also a small playground and the icecream van is usually there to serve the public. There are a number of events staged at this park throughout the year including Fireworks on Bonfire night and Railway engine steam and track weekend.

I think this is a really lovely park. Theres a large grass field that people walk their dogs on,…read moreplay football, frisbie or fly a kyte when the weathers nice. Then there are 2 seperate play areas, that aren't so new nowadays, but are still relatively modern and in good condition. The smaller park is for younger children, sort of 6 and under ish with a climbing frame and young child swings. And a larger park with a spiders web climbing frame amongst other things for older children. Theres a bowling green too and a minature steam train track that runs round the edge of the park. When I say minature, I mean in comparison to the real thing, but these tow seats around the track behind the train and its driver. Its about 20p, something which inflation doesn't seem to have effected, as its beenthat price for about the last 15+ years. But the trains are perfect for any small child who loves Thomas. They usually only run on a sunday. Theres usually an ice cream van around as its a popular park. There are events on throughout the year, usually around the 1st bank holiday in May for May Day Steam where the trains run for the whole weekend and theres a beer tent, model trains, boats, planes, crafts, sweets, bouncy castle, mini fair, steam engines, old bikes, cars, tractors and a good way to spend a day or afternoon over the Bank holiday, especially if the weathers not so good or you don't want to travel too far. They usually do something around Bonfire night too, although sadly I don't think they have the huge bonfire anymore that they used to have.

I took the grandkids here to play for a little while which helped to sustain the mundane. It's a…read morefairly large area of green space and located near allotments. The idea of allotments is simply genius. It's really lovely to have these green spaces and as kids aren't fussy they played away but the adults will notice that the weather-beaten swings, roundabout and other equipment have become well worn and shabby. It wouldn't take much investment or time by the local council to restore freshness here. The play area that we were in was specifically tailed off for kids to play in and there's a gate which is meant to be kid proof secure so they can't 'escape' but the gate is not effective any more, pretty far from it in fact, and certainly not safe or secure. Our grandkids are so young that they have low boredom thresholds so after 20 minutes of play it was time to find the canal and go for a good walk.

A little know gem of Warrington with bucket loads of history attached. It's got 2 main areas, open…read moregrass land and the willow marshes. Great dog walking area.

This is a wonderful, natural environment. Excellent for those who like to walk away from all the…read moretraffic and noise, but still be in contact with civilisation. It can be accessed from Farrell Street or Manchester Road (via Peacock Avenue) and has some pathways laid out, suitable for wheelchairs or buggies. Once again, it is often necessary to watch out for bicyclists, but most are very courteous here. The odd kids on stolen and/or illegal motorcycles are not. Contrary to popular knowledge of the law, these are not legal on what used to be called common land and still need a license, tax and insurance - none of which they have. Rant over! Just off the laid paths is a quite large area which is the actual twiggery - water and marshland completely enclosed in shrubbery which is more akin to jungle than parkland. The authorities have had built raised, wooden walkways throughout this area without destroying the natural aspects - it is possible to see all manner of animal and birdlife if one is quiet enough. I have watched heron fishing in the pond near the entrance as well as kingfishers and wagtails. On St George's Day, we usually manage to pick enough dandelions for the next year's dandelion wine - more than two gallons some years.

One of our favourite Bolton parks -- small but perfectly formed, as they say. There's an excellent…read morechildren's playground: the Council have recently spent a huge amount of money updating the swings, slides and so on and it's been money well spent. Our kids (aged 3 and 5) love going there and letting off some steam. Apart from the playground there's a bowling green and plenty of grass to play football/cricket/whatever -- although to be honest that's about it. It's just over the road from a local secondary school so it may be best avoided at certain times of the week, but during the holidays and at weekends it's a good place to visit.

A brilliantly beautiful park that is just amazing for long walk, relaxing, and so forth. When I…read morefind myself in this part of Manchester, I like to stop by and just enjoy the scenery. Grab a lovely lunch and just sit and people watch and/or stroll about taking in all of the acres of landscape, trees, florals, etc. Always a ton of adorable dogs playing around with their humans.

The foresight of our forefathers and in this case foresight that began 800 years ago…read more This is a beautiful parkland. It is located between Wythenshawe, Baguley, Brooklands, Northern Moor, and Northenden and is easy to access by car or public transport and there's plenty of on site parking.  It's all free to park and use with folks walking with or without dogs, kids playing in the parkland or on the roundabouts swings and slides. It has a working farm and farm shop. There was an ice cream van on site each time we go and it's a wonderful place for festivals, picnics and chilling out if you just want to daydream with nature. There's no shortage of space as it consists of over 100 hectares of open parkland dating from the 13th Century, with historic and ornamental woodlands, open grassland and beautiful wildflower meadows. To give context when Walt Disney bought land in 1965 for DisneyWorld he secured 17 hectares (today its a stunning 47 square miles). The park is steeped in history with the 16th Century Wythenshawe Hall at it's centre. The Hall had a serious fire a few years ago and remains in recovery and closed. The hall, together with the North Lodge and the Statue of Oliver Cromwell are Grade II Listed Buildings.   The park hosts a great range of year-round leisure and educational opportunities for all ages including a varied activities and events programme, with highlights like the annual firework & bonfire extravaganza, fairs, circus, sports and games events.   Here's to the next 800 years.

Considering I eat and drink out as much as possible, there has to be some sort of action plan when…read moreit comes to shifting the pounds. That's why I'm exceptionally lucky to live next door to Alexandra park, a leafy oasis in the red brick jungle of Edgeley. Not only are there 3 reservoirs with a multitude of fishermen hogging the banks, there's also tennis, basketball and football courts all free and fully unlocked to the public 24/7. There's also the Edgeley crown green bowls pitches to the north of the park which are super popular with an older clientele, plus there's all ages going for it in the tai chi each morning. It's a great place to go for an early morning run, walk your dog (wow - everyone seems to know each other!) and I personally go to shoot a few hoops most morning to get my basketball on (wind permitting...) Perfect for folks with kids - there's a huge playground onsite!

Davyhulme Park is a beautifully designed large Victorian park which serves the people of Urmston…read morewell. There are separate infants and juniors play areas so tiny ones do not feel intimidated by there older counterparts, and plenty of benches for mothers to relax on. Older children particularly love the monkey bars and the wooden jungle gym with a decking bridge. There are excellent tennis courts on which lessons are held, a basketball court and two bowling clubs as well. The five- a- side football area is always packed and there is a roller hockey section for the adventurous. Davyhulme Park has lovely spacious grounds and the cherry trees are spectacular at Spring time. The park is well kept and beautiful flowers appear throughout the year. This must be one of the cleanest parks I have ever been to and although many locals walk their dogs, they always clean up after their canine friends and special "poop" bins are littered around the park. The focal point is a sun dial mosaic that looks out from a viewing platform over the ponds. This is a lovely park to visit for the young and old alike.

Good park for the children 1-10 years nice gardens,plenty of swings and a large climbing frame with…read moreladders and a slide .Smaller slide for smaller children a see saw and small merry go round.Plenty of Benches and grass area for picnics .

On my way home from work on a cold snowy December's evening someone tried to thrust a flier into my…read morehand at Stretford tram stop. Normally I would have politely waved my hand, but as it was nearly Christmas I took it. To my surprise it wasn't actually trying to sell me anything. They simply wanted me to phone a number to try to secure some funding for the development of the nearby Longford Park. I won't pretend that I contributed to the success of the campaign, but I am happy that Longford Park has now secured £50,000's worth of lottery funding to transform and modernise the more dilapidated parts of the park including the poor neglected rose garden. The park is situated smack bang in the middle of Chorlton, Stretford and Old Trafford and is a decent size with tennis and basketball courts and play areas as well as its own athletics track and sports centre. There are plenty of trees to picnic under in the summer months. However, on every occasion I have visited the park there has been a distinct lack of both visitors and atmosphere. Hopefully they will spend their 50 grand wisely to bring the park up to the standard of some of Manchester's other parks such as Heaton Park.

Longford Park is definitely one of Manchesters prettiest, and most varied in terms of what it has…read moreto offer. As Emma-Louise points out, the animal sancturary is clearly a particular point of interest. You may have noticed that most of the parks in Manchester do not feature this attraction. Old Moat Park in Withington features something similar, a specifically fenced off patch of mud for dogs to poo in. Oh wait that's not the same thing at all. Longford Park is actually the largest park in the borough covering as it does a whopping 54 acres. Athletics track, bowling green, tennis courts, its literally go it all. Its even got a café, and ..... toilets! Apparently they even host teddy bears picnics so keep an eye of their website for delights of that sort! They also do drama festivals and Christmas carols. Its not only for organized fun either, with plenty of beautiful flower beds that are clearly very well looked after, and a kind of foresty area to browse as well. Basically, its got it all.

Excellent day out in nature for all of the family, the only reason that it doesn't have 5* is due…read moreto the food quality in the restaurant and how expensive it is, also the price to use the car park is too high, rather than charge by the hour or per car, it's charged per person in the car and cost almost £20 for a few hours visit.

I may not look like the traditional 'outdoorsman' but it may shock you to hear I'm quite the fan of…read moreNational Trust sites and in particular wildlife spotting! And at Dunham Massey there's nowhere quite like it to spot deer, squirrels and pheasants amongst some of the finest woodland the UK has to offer. As is standard at NT sites, it's £5 to park and around £10 entrance to the house, plus there's an excellent restaurant onsite serving homemade food between 12 and 2.30pm (we had the pork and vegetable casserole and mushroom pie and both were of excellent quality, out of a choice of around 6 dishes), with snacks such as teacakes and scones served with tea and coffee in the morning and afternoon. Lunch came to £22 with a couple of soft drinks. As is usual with National Trust sites, it's an extremely popular day out for older people, parents with pushchairs and young couples enjoying a romantic day out - saying that, there is plenty of room in the park to find your own piece of paradise so don't worry about it being too claustrophobic!