Hollingworth Lake has been going a long time and has been used since before motor cars were the normal mode of transport for most people.

And whilst the beach is not particularly enormous it’s a great lake to tootle over to for a relaxing couple of hours. Be warned that you pay for parking before 6pm, after that it’s free. Although to be fair 70p (currently) for 2 hours is pretty good compared to Manchester Airport’s £2.00 for 30 minutes.

Anyway, so it’s sunny, so we went to Hollingworth Lakes, fed the ducks, paddled from the jetty and walked on the beach. Although to be fair I’m not sure whether there’s any sand there.

And of course we all had the massive genuine Italian ice creams to round off our trip nicely.

So next time you’re footloose trundle down the M62, come off at junction 21 and follow the signs to have a pleasant relaxing few hours. And if you’re children there’s a visitors centre just past the enormous white pub across the other side of the lake. The visitor’s centre also has a rather nice little playground.