Beyond the city: 12 family days out in Knowsley and St Helens that Liverpool parents drive past
A safari park, a Shakespeare theatre in Prescot, a free glass museum, a 20 metre head on a slag heap and some of the best value swims and soft play on Merseyside. The east of the county, checked and priced.
Liverpool families head west to the Wirral and north to the coast and forget there is a whole county to the east with free parking. Knowsley and St Helens have the safari park everyone knows about and a dozen things most people do not, including some of the cheapest swims, soft play and farm visits on Merseyside.
Knowsley
Knowsley Safari at Prescot is the big one: a five mile drive through the reserves in your own car and the Foot Safari with the sea lions on one ticket, £26 for adults and £24.50 for children aged 3 to 15 booked online, toddlers £2.50, babies free. Closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays, drive shuts at 3.30pm, and the site says online booking is essential; same day is £3 more.
Acorn Farm in Kirkby is the opposite end of the budget: £4 adults, £3 children aged 1 to 16, under 12 months free, open every day 10am to 4pm, meerkats, pigs, goats and pony rides as a paid extra. Charity run, no background music, a sensory garden.
Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot is a proper timber theatre with a family programme that includes Baby Bards sessions, half term shows and relaxed performances. Booking an adult and a child together gets 10 percent off. The building is closed Sundays and Mondays unless there is a show, and there is no car park, so use Mill Street or the Church Street NCP.
Monkey Town in Kirkby is the new soft play: £9.95 for over 2s, £4.95 under 2s, adults free, unlimited time, free parking, open until 8pm Friday to Sunday. The Volair pools at Huyton and Kirkby are £4.40 a junior, under 5s free and £18 for a family of four, with free parking; Kirkby has the small toddler pool.
The parks are free with free car parks, which is the Knowsley speciality: Court Hey Park in Huyton with a playground, sunken gardens and an orchard, Halewood Park Triangle with a playground, a bird hide and an art trail next to Halewood station, and Stadt Moers in Whiston, a big country park with playgrounds, a cycleway and accessible main paths for buggies and scooters.
St Helens
The World of Glass in the town centre is free to enter, with the museum and the Victorian Tank House, and live glass blowing as a paid extra at £5 for adults and £3.50 for children. Open Wednesday to Sunday 10am to 4pm. The car park charges after the first ten minutes.
Dream at Sutton Manor is a 20 metre white sculpture of a girl's head on the old colliery spoil heap beside junction 7 of the M62, with 230 acres of Forestry England woodland round it, free and open all the time. It is a climb to the top, and worth it for the view and the photo.
Taylor Park is the pick of the parks: two play areas, a lake with a flat tarmac loop marked every 100 metres, woodland walks, toilets, a cafe in the old Boathouse and free parking. Sherdley Park has a play area, a new skate park and wide paths the council recommends for learning to ride a bike. Sankey Valley Country Park runs along the old canal from Carr Mill Dam to Newton-le-Willows, with a surfaced main route; the toilets and visitor centre only open when staff are there.
Willowbees in Newton-le-Willows is the council's soft play: £6.50 for two hours on a weekday, £8 at weekends, one adult free per child. It closes early for parties often enough that the venue suggests ringing first.
The FamDays verdict
Knowsley Safari for the birthday, Acorn Farm for a Tuesday, Taylor Park and The World of Glass for a free Saturday in St Helens. The east of the county is where the free car parks are, which, after a month of city centre Q-Parks, is a day out in itself.
