The country park that boasts tearooms, a playground,…

The country park that boasts tearooms, a playground, and even its own brewery

Sometimes just nothing beats a spring visit to a country park. And luckily Greater Manchester is blessed with quite a few.

Not many too can boast a Grade-II listed manor house that has recently received a £20m Levelling Up fund boost to restore it as a 'cultural destination'. Wigan Council hopes to transform this into a hub for arts, culture, heritage, and the environment.

But that's not all Haigh Country Park has to offer as LancsLive reports. The family park within Haigh Woodland Park is ideal for a family day out with spring on the way to display all of its strengths.

It's colourful gardens are starting to come into vibrant life and the woodlands are great for little explorers. But the estate also has a rich and interesting past, with links stretching all the way back to the Normans, plantations from the 1860s, and 16th century Cannel coal mining activity.

Haigh Hall is a historical gem having been built between 1827 and 1840. It was most recently operated as a hotel and spa but is closed to the public while Levelling Up work is ongoing.

The scenery shines in spring (Haigh Woodland Park)

The plantations are predominately beech trees, there's also oak, horse chestnut, sycamore, ash and lime and Scots pine to marvel at. There's a selection of specially designed walking trails to guide you along your way, including the Heart of Wigan and Jubilee Legacy (silver) routes.

All the sights are included in the walks, from the cottages, to Haigh Hall itself, and plantations, lodges and farms. For something a bit different there's an adventure play ground for the kids to get stuck into as well as mini golf and foot golf.

The high ropes aerial adventure is set to reopen in April after undergoing maintenance over the winter. After a day of exploring, visitors can refuel at the Kitchen Courtyard & Team Room where homemade cakes, pies, artisan breads, ice cream, light lunches and hot and cold drinks are served in a cluster of different outlets.

The Haigh Woodland Park play area (Haigh Woodland Park)

There is also Forster's Farm Shop and the Two Left Feet Tap, which is a taproom and brewery offering keg beers, casks, wines and gins. The picnic tables are the perfect way to welcome the warmer days after a fulfilling day.

The visitor centre has toilets and changing rooms, a wet room and accessible facilities including baby changing areas.

There is a large carpark on site so visitors from all around can enjoy. It costs £3.50 for the day and the best address to find it is: Haigh Woodland Park, Wigan, WN2 1PE. The car park is open 8am to 5pm weekdays and 7.30am to 5pm at the weekend and has a number of disabled spaces.