I lived in Frodsham when I was very little so I always like a little trip out here be it a wonder down the attractive high street, a walk up Frodsham Hill or the kids favourite Castle Park.
Built on the original site of Frodsham Castle (hence the name!), the eighteenth century park lands of Castle Park contain the old manor house (now used as offices), formal gardens, playing fields, bowling green, playground, football/tennis courts, arts centre and a cafe, so you’ll easily pass a couple of hours here at the very least.
The easy to miss car park is at the main entrance off the A56 just outside Frodsham and can get very busy. If you’re on foot you can also get to it from main street via fountain lane which brings you to the arts centre that’s also housed in the park (there’s also limited parking here).
As you walk into the park you’ll see the old manor house rebuilt in the 1850’s on your left hand side. The formal gardens round the side of it probably won’t interest the children but I like having a potter around it and pretending its my house.
You’ll come to the playground next which is a good mix for all ages. There are two sets of climbing frames and swings for both preschoolers and older ones. The roundabout doesn’t really work unless you’re Geoff Capes (showing my age there) so you won’t be spinning them round much on it. There are two big sandpits, one has a pirate ship in it and the other has a play frame where they can hoist sand up and down in a pulley and sieve it out . I never remember to bring their buckets and spades, so have to hope there’s a lonely bucket there that someone has left behind! There’s a birds nest swing (had to google that one, who knew they were called that?!), smaller slide and some railway signal levers and semaphore signals for good measure!
What you might miss is that there is another bit of the park up the path on the right hand side of the cafe ‘Luca’s’. Follow this uphill and you’ll come to a large playing field that has yet more play equipment, although I’d say it’s for over 6s, there’s nothing here for little ones apart from the field. My fearless big two love the zip wire because it’s fast and really jerks back with force at the end, my daughter fell off badly once and I thought she’d broken her arm, but that’s another story! The snake swing is also a big hit and they can get quite a pace on it. There’s some monkey bars and pull up bars too, just to remind me that I have no upper body strength.
The lovely Castle Park Arts Centre is housed in what was the old stables for the manor house and makes a great diversion to the fun of the park. Inside there are three galleries, retail units, toilets and a coffee shop. If you can grab a few minutes away from the kids then a quiet browse of the paintings is lovely.
There are plenty of benches for picnics both in the lower and upper playgrounds, or you can get a light lunch in the Arts Centre. There’s also the cafe ‘Luca’s’ which we always grab a coffee and ice cream from, the toilets are also housed here.
If you’ve got any energy left, have a wonder down Frodsham high street, I recommend the deli Whitmore & White for a nosy and the butchers H.E. Coward which has been going since I was a kid does the best pies ever! Similarly the Devonshire Bakery does cakes, pies & bread.
