Absolute gem of a historic place in Salford with free entry. We came years ago when my daughter was little (she's 22 now) & I can't honestly say why we forgot about this place but so glad we remembered. A few of my family & friends visited yesterday & had a fantastic time. There's loads to do for children or all ages & the adults will find it very informative. Please note there are lots of stairs all over the Hall so it makes it awkward pushing prams, our friend opted to leave her pram at the space near the toilets but we saw some struggling up the few stairs to get into the star chamber (& before you say it yes we did help them & didn't leave them to struggle) Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate as it was pouring down so our original plan of having a picnic went out the window but there is a small cafe inside but please note you can only eat & drink food purchased in the cafe. There are picnic benches in the grounds near the car park so on a nice time it would be good to have your lunch there. We found all the staff extremely friendly & helpful & have to give a big shout out to Cynthia, we met her in the star chamber & she was a wealth of information on the marriage bed (I didn't know beforehand the history of marriage beds & found it very interesting) & the history of the family who originally owned it. Throughout the Hall there are places where kids & even adults can dress up in period clothes, we had some little kids in our party & they loved it. The Opening Times are Mon - Thurs 10am - 4pm but please check their website to confirm before visiting. As a bargain hunter the free entry is fantastic (you can hardly go anywhere for free these days) although there is a suggested £3 donation. We visited the cafe & had hot drinks & ice-cream for the kids & even I found the cost very reasonable (I'm notorious for hating visiting cafes in musuems etc because of the high cost). I was surprised they were closed at the weekends but whilst sitting in the cafe & looking the photos I realized they host weddings at the Hall at the weekends to generate revenue. Because of the bad weather we didn't look around the gardens but we intend to visit when the weather is nice & explore the gardens in full & have our picnic. There is a small car park with 48 spaces, we didn't have any problem parking, not sure if that was the weather but the cost was £2.50 for up to 3 hours which I think is plenty of time to see the Hall, look around the gardens & even have a picnic or eat in the cafe (We only stayed 2 hours). All things considered it's a must-do to visit Ordsall Hall