days out in north west with toddler

[betflo]

my DD will be 2 in December and i am looking for fun family days out on her birthday.we live in manchester but are willing to travel arond the north west.any ideas.

Chester Zoo (bit cold but they do have nice cafe and some indoor animal houses). Blue Planet Aquarium (Ellesmere Port). Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester.

World Museum in Liverpool has a nice FREE aquarium, planetarium, and colour exhibition with some bits suitable for tots. The Walker Art Gallery has a children's section with dressing up, jigsaws, crayons and crafts.

MSIM is wonderful, but I think better for somewhat older kids.

We took DD to Blue Planet aquarium on her 2nd birthday followed by a pizza in Chester.

Chester zoo is VG.

I should be able to think of more... am a bit further north but we travel down M6 pretty often.

Family Friendly Manc - you can put an age range in

Oh yeah... if you don't get to World Museum this time, definitely put it on the to-do list as your DD gets older.

Knowsley Safari Park

...just don't go in a posh car

How far into the deepest North West are you willing to travel??
We are quite deep in it...
Can highly recommend the Wild Boar Farm at Chipping between Preston and Clitheroe (just google Wild Boar Farm) its excellent but I would say best for smaller children.
OR, in North Bolton is Smithills Open Farm which has the most AMAZING experience when you stand on a raised platform in the milking shed then all the cows come in for milking and all the parents keel over at the pong!!

Each has lots of different types of animals. we particularly like the Boar farm as at 2 hourly intervals you all go in the barn, sit on haybales and get given a teeny chick to stroke. And the children get to have a quick go bottle feeding lambs.

ALSO Bolton Museum has an aquarium (and last time we went they had pirhana feeding time!), lots of victorian stuffed animals, and also a huge dinosaur skeleton which little boys go beserk at as its the first thing you see coming up the stairs or out of the lift.

we like Chatsworth, it has a farm and big adventure playground with water, sand etc. Also Haigh Hall which is off the M61, which has large grounds, playground, cafe, model village and trains.

actually the places I said might be abit cold in Dec! Chester Zoo is always VG though. Friends have said the Blue Planet is a bit overpriced for what it is.

thanks for all your ideas ill look into them. also a friend said about eureka.has anyone been there,is it too old for dd(aged 2)will she enjoy it even if alot could go over her head.

oh yes def Blue planet as yes it is a overpriced BUT you can go round it many times as you like...we always go round it twice and be inside the building for about 4 hours!!...there is a cafe inside too.

blue planet is`cheep if you get membership then go a few times a year - under 3's are free!
chester zoo excellent
icecream farm near beason castle is great too.

I think Eureka is best left till older. IMO till they are old enough to read the captions themselves though DD enjoyed it younger than that. (I hated it. very noisy.)

The Chipping Wild Boar park is nice. Good playground and walk by the Hodder too. And if its for a birthday, they do kids parties. Its quite a trip round the lanes so I'm not sure if I'd go there from Manc. with a 2 year old TBH. Preston def yes.

I agree with EmsMum - that Eureka is more appropriate for school aged children.

We are Mancunians exiled in Staffordshire and if you can bear a short trip down the M^ then I'd recommend Trentham Gardens (Jn 15, take A34 towards Stone and Stafford).

Just past the main entrance (keep going south) is Trentham Monkey Forest which is fantastic: monkey colony to walk round, watch them feed, get really interesting behaviour information from the staff. Great little cafe and playground. Then you can go to Trentham Gardens proper for a full on consumer experience, but it is worth then paying to go into the Italian Gardens since they have a fantastic play area there with massive sandpits, drive on tractors (JCB is a local company!), a toddler level 'assault course' and great cafe next to the play area.

Fabulous gardens to run round also

If you don't fancy paying for the Italian gardens, the free bit of the garden (head to the loos in the chalet shops bit and the entrance is there) is also great - walk or take your trike around the lake, go on a boat trip, little train trip etc... Then finish off with a trip to Cadwalladers for an enormous ice cream sundae!

You can spend a whole day (and a whole lot of money!) here and no I don't work for them!

Tatton Park is also great - good playground; Stockley Working Farm - both south of Manchester near A556

Have you decided where to go yet Betflo?

I lopve Eureka, my nearly 2yo loves it as does my 3.5 yo

If you can get to your local tourist info centre there is a book of activities to do with kids in the North West cost about £3/£3.50, subdivideds all the diff areas for you, tells you whats there, costs and age ranges etc.
If in South Cheshire/Staffs area I would agree Trenham gardens, just up from that is the monkeys (they walk around you), theres lots of country parks round here, Tittersworth reservoir (Leek) is fab with play areas/picnic areas/walks, theres lots of farms (Wheelock is free!-nr Sandbatch), dimensions swimming pool (Burslem) good for younger kids -splash pools/fountains/slides etc. Gulivers land - Warrington and Chester zoo - i think close 4 certain times of year - you would have to check. If i can remember there was quite a lot up by Lancs and the lakes aswell but cant find my book at the mo.