Sale Water Park

About

Sale Water Park, located to the south of the city, is an area of countryside and parkland containing a lake, woodland, meadows, the River Mersey, cafe, restaurant and water sports centre.

During the summer, the hub of Sale Water Park is the lake which is busy with everything from sail boats to jet skis. Visitors can also get away from the hustle and bustle of the Water Sports Centre by taking a walk through grassy meadows to the River Mersey or along to Jackson’s Boat Bridge.

Sale Water Park Opening Times

The Water Park is open from dawn until dusk.
The Water Sport Centre is open from the morning with last hire at 4pm on select days.  Contact them for more details.
The Boathouse Restaurant is open Monday – Friday Lunch 12pm-2:30pm and Dinner 5:30pm – 9pm, Saturday 12pm – 9:30pm and Sunday 12pm – 8pm.

Water Sports at Sale Water Park

Trafford Water Sports Centre, located at Sale Water Park, offers water sports taster sessions where you can try kayaking, canoeing, windsurfing or sailing for £35+VAT per person for a minimum of 4 participants. Instruction is provided. During School Holidays, Weekends & Bank Holidays you can hire kayaks, canoes and katakanus. No experience or advanced booking is required (although we’d recommend calling them before you arrive so they can let you know what is available). You will be provided with full kit including paddles, waterproof cag, buoyancy aid and helmets.  You can contact the Trafford Water Sports Centre on 01782 722226.

Sale Water Park Restaurant

The Boathouse Restaurant is situated lakeside and serves lunch and dinner. You can contact them on 0161 962 0118.

Sale Water Park Car Park

There is a free car park with approximately 50 spaces.

Sale Water Park Metrolink Park and Ride

There are 300 parking spaces at the Sale Water Park park and ride facilities if using the Metrolink tram. They are available from 3am until 1am. There is no overnight parking.

History of Sale Water Park

The lake at Sale was a gravel pit, flooded after the extraction of gravel for the M60 in the 1970s. Previously the land belonged to Sale Old Hall, which stood close to the site of junction 6. 

Historically the River Mersey was the traditional boundary between Cheshire and Lancashire. However, the Jackson Boat Inn was in Lancashire, in spite of sitting on the Cheshire side of the river. This anomaly was due to natural changes in the course of the river over many centuries. During the Jacobite uprisings of the eighteenth century, Stuart sympathisers met secretly at the inn. According to local tales, they drank to the health of the Pretender Prince Charles ‘across the water’ in France, symbolising this with a bowl of water placed in the centre of the table. 

Sale Water Park Wildlife

Cormorants are prominent visitors to Sale Water Park and can often be seen perched on the electricity pylons on the Broad Ees Dole side of the lake. Visitors are well advised to be cautious when walking underneath them, or carry an umbrella – their guano makes a substantial mess. There is a pair of mute swans resident on the lake who have bred successfully on the lake since 2002.