Stamford Park is a massive communal park that hosts many events throughout the year. The Bonfire…read morenight's are especially impressive but you have to arrive early as the roads quickly become congested and it's then hard to access the park by car. Vehicles often park on the banking next to the main road, but this causes other peoples vehicles to become trapped and it not advised. The shows are reasonably well funded which means things like the firework displays are rather impressive, with a good police and ambulances presence in case of emergencies too. The park is also worthy of a visit during any normal sunny day too, not just when there's an event on, it's very well taken care of, and there's good disabled access if required too.

When I was younger, I used to always want to go into the forested area here but my parents would…read morealways tell me to stay away from there. "What lurks there is not for you little one" they'd tell me. It wasn't till after Karen took my kids away did I realise that I learned the true meaning of sadness and want for revenge. I'd cry myself to sleep on the soft grass here, planning a way to get them back. One day I will. The cafe is nice too, they do good chips.

Just 20 minutes by train from Manchester and around 30 minutes from Leeds - sandwiched in the…read morePennines is the glorious Dovestones. Most people walk around the 1st reservoir and enjoy the stroll. You can however walk around as many as 4 reservoirs in total and increase the challenge. If your particularly fit or an experienced Walker then walk to the tops and enjoy some fantastic views. The place changes every day with the weather, and lots of different routes to take so you won't get bored. Always wear good shoes/boots and take your waterproofs just in case. There is ample parking on weekdays, but very busy at weekends.

Our mission to go for at least one walk in the great outdoors each month of 2016 continues - at…read moreDove Stone Reservoir up in the hills of Saddleworth. Hoping lots of folks would have been put off by the cold weather and fallen snow, our group were met by total carmageddon at the official car park (which was full on a Sunday lunchtime and proved difficult to find a space). After a couple of circuits without success, we drove back to the main road, up the hill a few hundred yards and found plenty of room at the Binn Green car park. It's supposed to be pay and display but there were no machines - double winner. We took a stepped path down from this car park (it's a tad muddy in winter so choose appropriate footwear) and then eventually met the main paved/gravelled route around the reservoir. It's pretty flat all the way and there are gorgeous views to be had, so lots of photo opportunities. The shorter circular route is about 3 miles, whereas if you include the route past Yeoman Hey and Greenfield Reservoirs this increases to 5 miles. We were getting hungry by this point so decided to just do the former!

This park would have received a vote of 5 stars, if I was rating just on the park and not its lack…read moreof facilities. Beautiful park and natural setting with fabulous views all around. An area in the park where the previous house was sited, is particularly beautiful in my view and the perfect location for photographs of special occassions. The fault - no toilets!!!! Does the council want the encourage people relieving themselves behind walls and bushes, leaving tissues paper, which will just add a litter problem to the park. The buildings are there, the sign posts are there and the toilets are indicated on the large map at the entrance of the park - the notice on the doors of the once toilets, states: Closed for the foreseeable future - we all know this means for eternity! I was very disappointed, as I planned to bring my mother and father here along with other family and friends for a quiet picnic - Sorry this won't happen, they will not enjoy the pleasures of this park, nor beneift from the hard work put into this park as unfortunate it may be, they are human and do have the need to have a pee - tescos is a little too far for an elderly person to dash to in an enmergency - and why should they, they are visiting the park not the supermarket. Get a grip, provide facilites, they don't have to be 'state of the art', they need to be clean and functional. Very disappointed Stalybridge visitor.

This is a really big park which is maintained and looked after by the friends of debdale…read more This Park has two reservoirs there one of which the Debdale out door centre use for there watersports. The park also has a big allotment, Donkey Sanctary, small children's play area, basket ball and tennis court, children's activity centre and a big football pitch. The park has a lot to offer all ages and is also very popular with dog walkers. The park holds many events and you can go on line to see these events. Three to four times a year the fair comes to the park and in November they hold a firework display for every one which is normally free entry. The park has a toilets on it. In really nice weather there is usually an ice cream can also which is good value not to expensive. When it's not their, there is a McDonalds near by. A nice place to go for a picnic with lots to do. You can Normally see the community payback team there at least once a week helping maintain the grounds plus litter picking. There is a small car park which is also used by the Debdale out door centre and can fill very quickly, there is also additional spaces on the McDonalds car park across the road.

One of England's first country parks, only 25 minutes from home and I hadn't heard of it before…read more That called for an exploration. Etherow is located between Marple Bridge and Romiley in Stockport borough and was historically an area for mining and milling - the River Etherow flows through the park and there's plenty of evidence of its industrial past still dotted about. With the river and mill ponds, most notably Keg Pool, you'll get to see quite a variety of water fowl swimming about, feeding and nesting. The most impressive manmade feature in the park is the 20 foot high weir, which was used to carry water to the cotton mill; Stockport's own mini Niagara Falls. With a few walking paths criss-crossing the park, you can wander through woodland, up the valley sides and if it's a dry day, have a picnic at Sunny Corner. Failing that, The Andrew Arms pub is only a stone's throw from the main car park and serves hearty homemade meals.

Being a Stockport County fan and finding ourselves in division 6, we do end up visiting a number of…read morenew stadiums that we've never been to before. On this occasion it was the Tameside Stadium to see CA play the might County! Official attendance was 1700+ - their usual gate is 300 so you do the maths in terms of how much of the ground we had! Not a bad little place, easily accessible off the M60 and near a tram stop - there's limited seating over in the main stand but nothing else around the park - lots of standing for over 2 hours. I can't really criticise these guys too much as they're not set up for big away days and visiting fans - but we only had a few portaloos and one pie hut - not great and massive queues. Overall a good day out - shame it was a fairly uneventful 0-0 match! £10 in

Gaskell Street Park is a small, green, park sited to the south of the Rochdale Canal in the area of…read moreNewton Heath. It probably has something to do with novelist Elizabeth Gaskell, who lived in manchester in the 19th century. She wrote such joys Cranford and Mary Barton, which actually has a very interesting description of some areas of Manchester as they were then, have a read. Her best work in my opinion though, would have to be her biography of Charlotte Bronte, called 'The Life of Charlotte Bronte'.The text is more original than the name. Anyway that's enough of that tangent, we're talking about parks here! This park is in Newton Heath. Newton Heath is actually the home of Manchester United Football Club, and they were actually called Newton Heath at first. Interestingly, if you've seen the green and yellow Manchester United scarfs around at the moment, the colours come from the green and yellow that Newton Heath used to wear! Anyway that's enough of that tangent, we're talking about parks here! The park is pretty unremarkable, hence the tangents. It was awarded a Green Flag Award but so have all the parks in Manchester so I'm not really sure what this lark is all about Its pretty nice, good for walking humans or dogs, and maybe a very small ball game.