Gardeners Cottage…read more AFTERNOON TEA The front patio and rear garden are charming. The teas are delicious. The staff are delightful. Alas, the items on all three tiers of the afternoon tea are very disappointing and the £35 per person cost is objectionably unjustified. The entire selection felt like it had been pre-bought the night before from a Morrisons ready to eat isle. The menu over promises a fusion of English and Japanese cuisine and falls comedically short of pulling it off. It cost us £140 for four people and the food and most of it went un-eaten. Your best bet it to visit Gardeners Cottage and order off their regular menu. These sandwiches are delicious and fresh and reasonably priced.

Ya know I just don't get it. This is a fabulous place and it's huge. The kids enjoyed it especially…read morethe play park and the working farm (family entry £21). They had an old train that went around the different sites and while there were fairground rides most of them were tied up and all of them looked well worn out. What I don't get is why this place isn't a thriving agricultural hub led by energetic, driven management. Why isn't there a huge area growing and selling all manner of organic herbs, fruits and vegetables to restaurants and locals. Why isn't there intensive rare breed cattle, sheep and pig farming again selling the meats to restaurants and locals. I didn't see a brewery for organic ale and stout nor a distillery for say exquisite gin. They could even grow their own botanicals for gin. They could grow apples for cider or with rhubarb, gooseberries, damsons for crumbles, cakes and jams. There's a fresh water lake but no fishing. It's a few months to Christmas so where are the 100's of breeding turkeys because the demand for all of the above is most certainly there. So why isn't this huge wasted place that is demonstrably loaded with real potential not being properly utilised to maximise it's potential, reduce imports and create dozens of jobs for the greater Manchester community and of course inject new life into the parkland itself?

Nice place for kids cycling and dog walking. In the square they're shops where you can obtain ice…read morecream , beer, coffee and cake or a cafe fora full lunch.

I absolutely adore this place and feel so privileged it's on my door step…read more Haigh Hall Country Park has something for everyone. Whether you want a family day out with a picnic to a dog walk or even a romantic walk this place is for you. At the top car park at the hall end there's a cafe (which serves decent coffee!), awesome newly refurbished playground for the kids and there's almost always an ice cream van around. Move further down and there's a mini golf course and the gardens. Down at the hall, taking a look across the golf course to the view across wigan is absolutely recommended. The view on a nice day is stunning! Once your past the hall, you have the 2 mile winding walk through woodland to plantation gates. On the way you'll go over the canal and some pigs have recently taken residence about halfway through.

Alexandre Park This place was a big part of my early…read morechildhood, and was built in 1861. We use to go with family, friends or alone to play on the swings, chase geese, feed ducks and climb the various monuments around the place. This park is very close to the city centre, and has a lot of places for you to sit, enjoy the weather or just walk around. The huge greenhouse has been around since before I was born and is great if you're botanical! There's places to swing, slide and twirl the little ones. The boathouse is still there, but converted into a coffee shop, which has a decent array of sandwiches, drinks, pastries and ice creams. Although it has shrank in size, and there's a few places still closed off and under repairs, it's still a great park in the heart of Oldham where you can relax and take in beautiful surroundings.

What a beautiful and well maintained park, I love coming here for a stroll with the family and baby…read morewhenever I visit the UK to see my folks. I grew up here and have fond memories so it's nice to see the park has not gone to tatters like most of Oldham has over the years. There are some real beautiful authentic Victorian fixtures like the bridge and gazebo stage thingamajig. There's also what looks like a mini Japanese tea garden section that's lovely to take pictures in and read about the history of the park. I'm yet to try the boat rides and Boathouse cafe, but there are so many lovely spots to have a picnic or gaze into the water. My young nephews love playing badminton and frisbee here so it is a great place to bring the kids for a day out to burn off some energy. They also have a nice play park with a sandpit and some (challenging) climbing and swinging structures (difficult for an old codge like me!) The greenhouse isn't usually open when I am here, but I love the house and garden behind it. It's nice that they have a free parking lot too, hope it stays that way! Definitely a "Thing To Do" if you're visiting or reside in Oldham, UK.

I'd prefer to keep this place to myself but seeing as I'm trying to share some pretty cool places…read moreI'll only tell all my Yelp friends about how nice this place is - we can keep it to ourselves and those who are smart enough to use our app regularly! Basically this place is super cool, situated in lovely woods just through from Cheadle Hulme with an entrance very close to Life Leisure swimming pools - a perfect place to spend a lovely summer day - maybe with friends, maybe with family, maybe with a special someone - or maybe all together at the same time. There's a carpark which was £1 for 2 hours and from here you can walk up to their gardens and park area which are rather secluded but still have plenty of opportunity to sunbathe - in fact there were loads of groups of people when we visited enjoying picnics, ball games and good times - very very chilled atmosphere! There's also a full free BMX track if that floats your boat, a kiddie play ground and a cafe and ice cream huts. Overall a lovely place to spend a nice day - now it's time to zoom off and look at those weather forecasts!

Bruntwood Park provides recreational and sporting facilities to all. it also offers a play area of…read moreexcellence to the Borough of Stockport and to many visitors from the North West region. There are a variety of facilities available in the Park. An eighteen-hole par 3 pitch and putt course utilises existing contours and is in harmony with the existing mature trees. A fully accessible child's playground occupies a central position providing adventure and fun for children with all the equipment carefully chosen and landscaped. Refreshments are offered at a refreshment kiosk and the original Victorian conservatory has been converted into a restaurant catering for Park users wishing to relax in pleasant surroundings. A great day out for all tastes and interests.

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.

Henley Park is a pleasant area providing respite from the hectic pace of activity in the adjacent…read moreWhiston Hospital and the surrounding area. It's made up of a large field - great for kids and families on sunny days - surrounded by trees, shrubbery and a footpath around the perimeter. At the back is a rose garden and rockery that provides lots of hiding places for mischievous youngsters. There are plenty of benches, making it a great place to sit down with a book and relax after a leisurely stroll. The local council puts on regular events there; a noticeboard by the entrance will update you on what's happening.

I love this little park. I was taken there as a kid and roll forward took my own child there. It's…read morea good meeting place and a space to sit and think, a place to go when leaving hospital.l beg of all park uses don't disrespect our little park l look at it today and love watching it being used. Dog people pick up your s%#£, cafe up your game and arseholes go elsewhere. Let the little people enjoy it treasure it or it will be taken off us and made into housing. We have nothing around here apart from this little park let everyone enjoy it. From a Prescot resident.

Unfortunately I've never been able to see Oasis or The Stone Roses perform here…read more However, I've had the pleasure of strolling the grounds of this historic park. It is so big and it has so much! A huge playground, bowling greens, football (soccer) pitches, etc. There's a lake with ducks. You can rent a boat to row on the lake. There are cafes. There's an animal section. Lots and lots of places to picnic. Can't forget Heaton Hall! A wonderful way to spend the day.

A last minute decision on a damp, drizzly winter Sunday, but a good one. Forgot how vast this place…read moreis! Walked down the hill past the hall and round the lake, slowing to admire the signets and stop the dog munching all the food left for the birds! Round the other side of the lake, the woods are incredibly quiet; it's easy to forget you're right on the edge of such a large city and the motorway is about a mile away. This is the highest point in the city and the views are amazing.

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!