Whitby Park

Ellesmere Port's main park, with a Green Flag, a pond in front of Whitby Hall and an accessible circular route. Easy walking close to home, and the council calls it ideal for dog walking.

Whitby Park is the big green space in the middle of Ellesmere Port, and it holds a Green Flag award, which is the national standard for parks and open spaces. The council calls it the town's main green space and says it is ideal for dog walking. It is the sort of place that works when you want a proper walk and a bit of room without driving out into the countryside first.

Whitby Hall sits at the heart of it, with the main pond in front. The cafe and the public toilets are both inside the hall, and the toilets are open when the cafe is open — the cafe's times are displayed outside the hall rather than published online, so if you are counting on a coffee or a loo it is worth a look at the door on the way in. Fishing is allowed on the pond, so expect anglers and lines along the bank on a decent day.

Three parts of the park are deliberately left a little rougher for wildlife: the main pond, a grassland area behind the bowling greens, and a small woodland over on Park Drive. Those are the quieter corners, and the woodland in particular is a good place to let a dog have a proper sniff about.

There is an accessible circular route through the park that the council says suits buggies and wheelchairs, with dropped kerbs and disabled parking bays. That makes it one of the easier walks on this list if anyone in the party is not steady on their feet, or if you are managing a lead and a pushchair at the same time.

Two parts of the park ask for a little quiet. The Field of Hope was planted by Marie Curie and comes up in daffodils in spring, in memory of people affected by cancer, and there is a Covid-19 memorial garden next to it. Both are worth knowing about before you let a dog off to charge around.

Worth knowing

• —The council publishes no opening or closing times for the park, and none for the cafe either — the cafe's hours are only on a sign outside Whitby Hall. Since the public toilets are inside the hall and open when the cafe is open, plan the walk as though there are no facilities and treat them as a bonus.
• —Cheshire West and Chester's dog control order does not name Whitby Park as a place dogs must be on the lead, but it does exclude dogs from fully enclosed children's play areas that contain play equipment, and from enclosed or partly enclosed games areas and tennis courts. The council says the park has plenty of facilities for young people but does not say which of them are fenced, so read the signs at the gate rather than assume.
• —The park has bowling greens, and the council consulted in 2024 on adding a rule that dogs must be on leads at all times on council-managed bowling greens. That consultation closed on 14 July 2024 and went to Cabinet on 11 September 2024, but the council has not published the outcome on the review page. Assume leads on and around the greens.
• —Wherever a lead is required, the order says it must be no more than two metres, and an extendable one has to be locked at that length. An authorised officer can ask for any dog to be put on a lead anywhere in the borough. You also have to be carrying something to pick up with — not just intending to.
• —Parking is available for park users except when the fun fair is in residence, and the park regularly hosts community events. On an event day both the parking and the peace and quiet go, so it is not the day for a nervous dog.
• —Fishing is permitted on the main pond. Hooks, lines and bait on the bank are a real hazard for a dog that goes in or hoovers up whatever it finds, so it is worth keeping close along that edge.

Details from Cheshire West and Chester Council — Whitby Park. Also from Cheshire West and Chester Council — dog control Public Spaces Protection Order review.