Keep the kids occupied at one of the many children's soft play centres such as Snakes & Slides, which offers go-karting, a bistro and a separate babies' area as well as a huge playframe, or Kidz Club, which is open evenings as well as weekends.
Planet Play has excellent facilities for adults to while away the time while their kids let loose in the three-tier playframe, such as a cafe and wifi.
Visit Bowlee Park Sport Centre and enjoy one of the reasonably priced leisure activities available. They offer everything from adult classes, boxing circuits and over-50s yoga, to junior football coaching and trampolining. With hall hire available and even a Surestart children's centre on-site, it's an ideal community venue.
For a piece of history in action, visit the Ellenroad Engine House, which boasts the only fully-working cotton mill engine with its original steam-raising plant. Here you can see the 3,000 horsepower Victoria and Alexandra (1892), a coal-fired Lancashire boiler and other machines still working after more than 160 years.
Enjoy the beautiful wide open green space that Queen's Park, Rochdale has to offer with a picnic, weather permitting! Considered one of the country's finest parks, this licenced wedding venue offers a host of facilities, including a cafe/reastaurant and children's creche/play area.
Touchstones Rochdale is a centre of arts, education and culture which caters for a wide range of interests, through changing exhibitions, events and activities. They offer a museum, visitor centre and cafe, and are open Tuesday-Saturday 10-5.
Truffett Park has plenty to offer the outdoors-loving family; if herbaceous beds and the sensory garden don't tickle your fancy, head for the tennis courts, standard play area, wetland area or wildlife walk.
Take a trip on the "Lady Alice" or look in on the visitors centre to enjoy some of the many recreational activities that Hollingworth Lake has to offer.
Visit Middleton's Limefields Park playground and use the outdoor gym facilities while your children play on the swings!
Sandbrook Park, Rochdale has a lot to offer for families, such as the Odeon cinema and Strike Ten Bowling, and enough family-friendly restaurants to keep eveyone's tastebuds satisfied, including McDonalds, Frankie and Benny's, and Pizza Hut.
