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.

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 .

A bittersweet experience was had on my first ever visit to Chorlton water park. Driving here is a…read morelittle strange with it being situated in such a densely populated area. You get the feeling your Satnav is taking you to the wrong place. Don't worry it's not. An old reservoir was transformed into a huge lake a while back and that's the park's main feature. A mile radius around the lake acts as a perfect biking/ hiking trail which isn't too strenuous and is littered with relaxing spots with great views. There's an icecream van to cater for all your refreshment needs and does a lot of business on a hot summer's afternoon. It's a perfect venue to have a picnic and for young families (There's a large play area for kids) All in all a lovely green space in a heavily populated urban area. My only beef with the place was the unsafe nature of the car park. Make sure you park in an area that's camera visible. I returned after a pleasent afternoon to find my windscreen cracked quite badly. I hadn't parked under a tree, falling debree was thus out the question so I suspected some sort of foul play. My little trip therefore cost me nearly £150. Perhaps the place is cursed for me, but don't let that put you off.

When I first moved to Chorlton and I heard people talking about this water park I had visions in my…read morehead of chutes and river rapids. Sadly, the water park bears absolutely no resemblance to Stoke-on-Trent's Water World or Florida's Blizzard Beach. Instead it is a large man-made lake with a path around the edge which attracts walkers, joggers and cyclists. The path is well-surfaced and links on to the Mersey Valley trail, which is unsurfaced. However, there is a car park and visitor centre if you don't fancy the trek down from Chorlton or Didsbury. The water park was formed in the 1970s when gravel was dug up from this area to build the M60, and the area was flooded to form the lake. Despite the fact that the water park is surrounded by the M60, the busy Princess Parkway and Chorlton town centre it is a surprisingly peaceful and serene place - so peaceful that it is the place that the hippies flock to for the summer solstice.

A small children's play area off Wigan Road…read more There's a very good playground there: Bolton Council have recently invested some money in their children's play facilities, and they have put in quite a bit of new equipment here. As a consequence it's a really good facility with plenty to keep the kids amused and to help them burn of some energy. Apart from the playground, though, there's not much here! And the parking isn't great either -- you have to park on Wigan Road itself really. But all in all, it's a decent resource to have in the neighbourhood -- we certainly like it!

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.

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.

When I lived in Whitworth Park (the halls, for I am not a vagrant) my parents came to pick me up on…read morethe way up to visit family in the north-east. Due to the fact that my Mum is always early and my Dad is always thrifty, they had brought a picnic and suggested eating it in the park. The problem was that it was March and not even a particularly warm or dry March, so we huddled up against each other and sat on a cold, graffitied bench and ate our tuna sarnies. That was the only picnic I've eaten in Whitworth Park and pretty much the only time I've sat down in there. On the other occasions I was put off by the combination of tramps, builders and school kids, which made it hard to relax. I found it much more pleasant to sit in Whitworth Park (the halls) or walk for 20 minutes to Platt Fields Park. But still, I quite like this park. It is a nice green break from the monotony of curry houses (if approaching from Rusholme direction) and university buildings (if approaching from other direction). I just want to know how they keep on putting the cone back on top of King James' head. Anyone?

After trekking around, looking for a place to relax, I saw this well-sized park and figured it'll…read moredo. And it did! Fairly decently sized, this is a good park right near the university that offers visitors the chance to choose from a plethora of space. Thankfully, my visit did not coincide with hordes of screaming children, so I was able to stroll about and find a seat and enjoy a quiet park. Even sitting next to the playground I was free of yelling and gallivanting children. Although there was a random woman who walked up to the Hamster Wheel and decided she needed a workout (she seriously just walked in it for a couple minutes like it was a treadmill...see my photo for proof!). Granted, this time of year the ground was a bit wet and muddy, but I think this could be a lovely space on a warm (and dry) day to just sit under a tree and breathe the fresh air.

Undoubtedly my favourite park in Manchester. There is everything: trees, flowerbeds, a little lake,…read moretables to have a picnic, benches. Also, there's usually plenty of events going on, such as markets, cricket matches and other cultural or social activities. It is the ideal place to do sport. Running is a standard thing to do, and it is possible to find some panels around the park which show the various lengths for the paths you can choose, so that you are always able to figure out which distance you have covered. There is a cricket pitch, where local teams plays over summer, and four tennis courts, which can be booked online for free. In most cases there are a few available, so you can just turn up and play, but especially on weekends I would recommend to book in advance. Recently I have noticed that a ping pong table has been installed close to the tennis courts. Close to the lake there is a cafe that is actually run by Tea Hive, the coffee shop in Chorlton. On weekends it is open until 5pm, while on weekdays it closes at 4.30pm.

In the whole of the United Kingdom, Alexandra Park Manchester comes second! Yep, that's rights, out…read moreoff the whole country, it's the second best... in the category 'parks called Alexandra Park'. Beaten only by its London rival Alexandra Park, which features miles of hills and a palace, this medium sized green space in Moss Side can hardly complain about its ranking. Plus it couldn't complain anyway because its a park not a person. Apparently the park was an important space in the Victorian period, but I've forgotten what it was like then, so I'll just focus on the now. Basically it's a big green space with some nice paths to stroll around and a nice little lake. More impressively is the fact that it plays home to an annual Caribbean Carnival! Less impressive that that but still worth of note is that it host many amateur football games an an annual 5K run. For this kind of thing you'll want the athletics webpage rather that the park one displayed above, that's at : www.openathletics.org.

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.