Clifton Country Park – Fairytale Trail

Last weekend we headed to Clifton Country Park in Salford for a few hours. Joshua was out with his Auntie so we decided to try out a place we have never been before, that I had heard was good for little ones. Clifton Country Parks lies beside the River Irwell and has acres of open woodland and meadows. The park is not far off the M60 and was easy to get to, about 20 minutes from Oldham. There was a large free car park, a cafe that opens Wednesday to Sunday, 10.30am – 3.30pm and toilet facilities. The cafe and toilets are newly refurbished.

We walked away from the cafe towards a park, past fields full of horses and even donkeys which the kids loved! We were looking for the Fairytale Trail, so walked past the playground and towards the lake.

As we approached the lake we saw the sign for the Fairytale Trail….

The trail is approximately a mile long and takes about an hour to walk around, which is perfect for little legs. We left the pram and my two walked the whole way, it was just the right size of walk!

There is 10 sculptures along the trail including a fox, owl, pig and a bear, all of which my children loved! They enjoyed walking from one to the other and we even tried to guess what animal we would see next!
These sculptures were created by Cheshire based chain saw artist Mike Burgess and installed by Salford City Council workers and Salford Volunteer Rangers. They were funded by pushing up recycling rates in the local community.

These two really wanted to give this sculpture a big bear hug.

The trail ended with this fab large sculpture of The Gruffalo! The kids thought it was great.

The trail is a circular walk so you end up back where you started.

If your looking for a cheap afternoon out, this would be fab. For a longer say out, take a picnic. There was plenty of green open spaces to play ball and of course, the playground.

When we went to the cafe, we noticed other trails that you could do. There were a few leaflets on a Tree Trail also.

I saw on the notice board that there is plenty of events and activities there, here’s a few examples –

We had a lovely afternoon and can’t wait to head back for more exploring.