Cuerden Valley Park

 I visited Cuerden Valley Park on two occasions, 23 November 2021 and 15 January 2022, so I have to acknowledge I was not seeing it at its finest.

The north end of the park has been severely broken up by having both the M6 and M65 running through it, plus the junction between the two, and when I was there in January, with no leaves on the trees the noise of the cars was ever-present.

It is well served by about six car parks dotted around. The two I used had plenty of space, but I can imagine that is not the case on warm summer days. There is a charge, £1.50 for 2 hours, but I felt that was quite reasonable.


The River Lostock runs through the park. The river starts at the confluence of Slack Brook and Whave's Brook, near Withnell Fold, heads southeast towards Chorley, parallel to the Leeds Liverpool Canal, but just before it gets there, it heads north, after a mile or so going through the park, still heading north.

It then heads west, skirting Bamber Bridge, and was presumably bridged by the eponymous bridge, and then Lostock Hall, from where is gets its name, then heads southwest, to Midge Hall, to join the river Yarrow, just before that joins the River Douglas.


The park features a small ford through the river, which is popular with small children. When I was there, they were all in wellies. A bridge is also available if you want to keep your feet dry.


There is also a small reservoir, also called a lake on the signposts, at quite a height above the river. Sadly you can only get around half of it. To be honest, this is something of an issue with the park - there are plenty of paths, but not a lot of scope for a circular walk.


I did not try the visitors' centre, but it looked well-maintained.

Overall, it is a nice park, but not greatly inspiring. There is not much there to make me want to go back again, and not a lot for kids besides large open spaces and the ford.



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