![\"Emma](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Emma-Gill.png\")
<\/p>\nWhether you’re looking for a playground, a place to picnic, or a pub, it’s got it all<\/p>\n
Emma is the parents editor for the Manchester Evening News. She covers news and events for families across Greater Manchester.<\/p>\n
![\"Hollingworth](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0_EGR_090925lake2_02.jpg\")
Hollingworth Lake(Image: Manchester Family \/ MEN)<\/p>\n
With the kids back in school many families will be looking to make the most of weekends before the weather takes a turn.<\/p>\n
One place that is popular with visitors of all ages is Hollingworth Lake Country Park in Littleborough, Rochdale<\/a>.<\/p>\n While the lake’s water level is currently very low<\/a> following the summer heatwaves, there’s plenty to explore in the area, with wooden sculptures dotted about including a fairy tree and an owl, along with playgrounds and picnic areas – at the lake itself and close to the visitor centre where you can park up.<\/p>\n There are various hiking and cycling routes in the area, or you can simply enjoy a leisurely stroll around the lake, which has its own cafe half way round selling sandwiches, potatoes, sausage rolls and the like along with milkshakes, frappes and ice cream.<\/p>\n For the best ideas on days out, shopping and parenting issues, get the Manchester Family newsletter here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Along Lake Bank itself, it almost feels like you’re on a day trip to the seaside – with a fish and chip shop and the popular Wallis’s amusement arcade and pastel-infused ice cream parlour, selling ice cream, sundaes, donuts and sweets galore.<\/p>\n And there’s no end of places to eat, with something to suit all budgets, from The Wine Press restaurant, which customers rave about, to the traditional pub, The Beach, a Greene King selling classic pub meals as well as carvery. It’s dog friendly and there’s a huge beer garden with its own play area.<\/p>\n It was The Olive & Pickle we stopped off at for a bite, a rather stylish cafe with indoor and outdoor seating and a cute little kiosk next to it selling Grandpa Greene’s luxury ice cream and other drinks and snacks.<\/p>\n It took a while for the food to arrive and while it wasn’t the best lunch around – and not really worth the \u00a312.50 for a traditional breakfast and \u00a39 for a panini, plus \u00a34.50 for chunky chips – it filled a gap.<\/p>\n Join our Family WhatsApp group HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n However the place redeemed itself with a huge slice of Biscoff cake we took home to devour, easily the best part of the meal.<\/p>\n Of course, if you’re not wanting to spend any money, the walk is enjoyable on its own and perfect for getting some crisp autumn air in the months ahead.<\/p>\n There are various places to park, including the visitor centre and the pay and display car park in front of the lake. You can get the details and prices here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Do you have a day out in Greater Manchester that you’d recommend to families? Let us know in the comments<\/a>, or share it with us on our Manchester Family<\/a> Facebook page. You can also find us on Twitter and Instagram @familymanc.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whether you’re looking for a playground, a place to picnic, or a pub, it’s got it all Emma…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,12232,393,4884,109994,130432,8829,2465,8827,485,1170,10968,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-420796","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-days-out","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-hollingworth","13":"tag-hollingworth-lake","14":"tag-m-e-n-explore","15":"tag-manchester","16":"tag-manchester-cafes","17":"tag-manchester-family","18":"tag-rochdale","19":"tag-things-to-do-manchester","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115196398705809007","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Wallis's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0_EGR_290823Hollingworth_38jpeg.jpg\")
Wallis’s Parlour(Image: Manchester Family\/MEN)<\/p>\n![\"Traditional](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0_EGR_090925lake_05.jpg\")
Traditional breakfast at The Olive & Pickle (Image: Manchester Family \/ MEN)<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0_EGR_090925lake_23.jpg\")
The Olive & Pickle (Image: Manchester Family \/ MEN)<\/p>\n